d+a | Issue 116 • Jun/July 2020

/ RETAIL / 42 This meant that no alterations could be made to the building’s existing façade, structural system, basic floor plan or the interior details on the walls and ceilings. To meet these regulations, Yu and his team used an archaeological technique to distinguish the different architectural elements within the building, so they could retain and restore those with historical value. “After peeling off layers of paints, the textures and vicissitudes of the original 1932 church were finally revealed,” says Yu who removed recently-added structures – such as a steel-framed interlayer that was built in the 1990s – that were not historically significant. He and his team cleaned up the interiors to reveal the original height of the main hall and shortened a more recent addition on the eastern side of the building, so it was aligned with the original parts of the church. YU TING, LEAD ARCHITECT, WUTOPIA LAB 3. The modular cashier counter in the main hall can be split into three movable sections. 3