SCDA Architects’ Soo K Chan Debuts Soori Penang, The Island’s First Ultra-Luxury Hotel

Globally renowned architect Chan Soo Khian, better known as Soo K Chan, is making a grand homecoming to his birthplace, with a compelling contender for the island’s most refined stay: Soori Penang.

Chan was born in 1962 in a shophouse at the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi in the heart of the oldest part of George Town. At the age of 18, he left Penang to study in the US, where he would obtain a Master of Architecture degree at Yale University. Chan would eventually become the founder and principal of SCDA Architects, an international multi-disciplinary firm integrating architecture, interiors, landscape, and object-making. It is renowned for high-end residential projects, such as Soori High Line in New York and The Marq in Singapore, as well as numerous luxury hotels worldwide with brands such as Aman and Park Hyatt. His work has won him numerous awards, including Designer of the Year at the Singapore President’s Design Award, the highest honour for designers in the country.

Despite his phenomenal success, Chan has never forgotten his roots, and returns to Khoo Kongsi by reimagining 15 of the shophouses into a luxury boutique hotel as part of a deeply personal endeavour. “I lived there with my extended maternal family, as my mother was a Khoo and where there was a true sense of community,” Chan says. “Interestingly, the founder of Khoo Kongsi was originally a Chan—like myself—before being adopted into the Khoo family.” The project has been nearly seven years in the making, due in part to the herculean task of securing the confidence of the Board of Trustees, who are steadfast custodians of the country’s largest Hokkien clanhouse, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He explains that shophouse typology, which is fundamentally shaped by its engagement with the elements—heat, rain, light, and wind—affected the way he developed the suites. As is characteristic of traditional shophouses, the suites are long and narrow, with air wells, or light wells, at its nucleus. Besides functioning to allow daylight and ventilation to penetrate the interiors, it is believed to be vital for the flow of Qi (energy) in Feng Shui. “It was important for me to preserve the air wells, which is not a common feature in most Western countries, so it wouldn’t be a stereotypical luxury hotel,” Chan explains. He also recreated other original architectural features, such as the double wooden doors with ancient Chinese-style bolts.

“I remember that, when it rained, water would fill the sunken central communal courtyard,” says Chan, recalling his childhood. “It would take a few minutes for the water to dissipate, so it became a pool where all of us children would gather to play in.” Chan recreated this magic in the tranquil inner courtyard with a reflective pool and a contemporary stone fountain fashioned after a traditional rice grinder. “The iconography for the latter comes from recollections of my aunties using it in the kitchen to grind rice and chilli. It’s really about capturing the essence of a shophouse space through cultural references without over-romanticising other aspects.”

On the granite-paved grounds of Khoo Kongsi also stands the highly ornamented clan temple, dubbed the grandest in all of Southeast Asia. This magnificent building was conceived by master craftsmen from Southern Fujian, but is remarkably more ornate than any ancestral halls found in the XinAn Village, where the clan’s forefathers came from.

The temple includes minor Western influences that have been integrated as part of the elaborate ornamentation, such as turbaned armed statues and wrought iron fencing with flora motifs that were custom-made in the UK. Demonstrating his meticulous attention to detail, Chan drew inspiration from the gate’s original motif, reinterpreting it into the hotel’s logo—a sinuous letter S seamlessly intertwined with twin Ks. Outside the temple, numerous trishaw pullers operate the three-wheeled carriages, waiting for customers to hop on to discover the enchanting streets of the city. Chan enlisted Choo Yew Choon, a fourth-generation artisan and possibly the last traditional trishaw maker in Penang, to create two distinguished trishaws over the course of a year, for the exclusive use of Soori Penang’s guests.

At the entrance to the main hall of the temple stands a pair of stone guardian lions, traditional symbols of protection and welcome. Impressive reproductions crafted in the same village have since been placed in each suite and the lobby, subtly extending this cultural narrative throughout the property. “I was only able to do that because I kept the architecture extremely minimal,” Chan explains. “I wanted guests to truly feel the elements of the space, and to let the decorative objects provide the layers of storytelling.”

However, as a juxtaposition from the ostentatious temple, the design language of the suites is defined by restraint and spatial generosity. Upon entry to the suite, the sense of luxury does not announce itself all at once; rather, it reveals itself gradually with each step and interaction. Exquisite finishings and fittings such as Alabaster lamps and sinks from Soori Living, his own lifestyle brand, are paired with 3m tall porcelain crackle-accented walls, which reflect Chan’s impeccable taste. These are augmented by creature comforts such as Byredo shower amenities, Toto toilets, and down bedding.

Apart from the lavish suites, the facilities include a restaurant, bar, gym, tea room, and spa, with masseurs trained by the team from sister property Soori Bali, while a wine cellar is in the works. Chan also plans to expand with more rooms and suites, as well as bars, restaurants, and shops facing Cannon Square. “The aim,” he reflects, “is not merely to create an ultra-luxury hotel, but to distil the true spirit of Penang and present it through my own lens.”

Reservations are now being accepted at Soori Penang’s website.

Photography by Aaron Pocock