d+a | Issue 124 • 2022

41 It sits near the waterfront of what was then the New Harbour, distinctive for its four stout boiler chimneys, and later replaced by two tall and slim ones. Designed with a brick façade and rows of full-length windows, it belied its function as a coal-fired electric power station, home to what were then modern machines of its time. The building has three parts to it – the Boiler House, Turbine House and Switch Gear House – connected to each other with interstitial spaces. Immediately after the power station had finished serving its purpose, it was converted into a warehouse and in 2006, reopened as an entertainment complex following a restoration. Three years later, it was gazetted as a National Monument, but it was only in 2021 that its original visage was fully (and literally) revealed. In fact, this was a deliberate gesture on the part of W Architects, says its Managing Director Mok Wei Wei, “Our first move was to