A two-storey conserved shophouse built in the late 1930s, belonging to the second transitional shophouse style. Its elegant black-and-white façade features intricate plaster ornamentation and windows with Malay-style tracery, set behind a small gated front yard that gives you a moment to pause before you step inside.

Inside, the original features have been carefully retained. Chinese talismanic floor tiles span the interior from wall to wall. Intricate fretwork adorns the hand-carved lintels of every doorway and the stairwell bannisters. Chinese green jade breezeway tile blocks peep out from the walls between rooms. In the kitchen, traditional red brick counters anchor the space and just beyond, a naturally-lit courtyard is home to one of the last few surviving functioning wells in Singapore.

The house was named Botany House to promote reflection on the physical and natural history of the neighbourhood of River Valley. The area was generally populated by jungle and marsh before the 19th century. After British colonisation, some of the land was converted to gambier plantations, then nutmeg plantations, which were later bought over by Jewish and subsequently Chinese businessmen. The surrounding area near the Singapore River was also home to members of the Orang Laut and Malay communities.

Spaces like this give our activities a character we can't manufacture. The room has its own natural configuration, but it figures itself out whether the group is small or big.