Upgrading of Historic Shop Houses at Hotel Rendezvous using the TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Composite System

Upgrading of Historic Shop Houses at Hotel Rendezvous using the TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Composite System

Overlooking beautiful Bras Basah Park and situated in the heart of the civic, cultural and commercial district of Singapore, Hotel Rendezvous is a four-star business-class hotel that blends contemporary and classical architectural design. Restaurants and retail outlets in nine historic shop houses front the 11-storey hotel in this charming integrated development. This existing row of old pre-war, three-storey shop houses was integrated with the new 11-storey hotel behind it. This was the goal of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in an effort to preserve a part of Singapore’s vibrant past.

The TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Composite System was used to increase the load-bearing capacity of existing structural elements such as beams, and columns. This advanced building technique is both non-intrusive and faster than conventional strengthening methods. As there were no records of the structural details of the building, all the structural plans and design details had to be established through a complete structural investigation. While temporary propping was used to hold up the existing brick walls during construction, the TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Composite System was also used to wrap all brick walls and brick façade of the shop houses. The TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Composite System leaves underlying brick and façade visible because the epoxy and fibres are transparent when combined.

The stunning new Hotel Rendezvous Singapore was opened in October 1998 and won the URA Architectural Heritage Award in year 2000 for the restoration of this heritage building. By using the TYFO^® Fibrwrap^® Composite System, this historic structure was conserved, fulfilling the requirements of the Urban Redevelopment Authority.