The Reserve

MonoLab Studio

Client: Gregor Gregersen

Nestled within the dense yet quiet business district of Changi, The Reserve transforms an old electronics warehouse into a world-class vault for precious commodities, an emblem of how adaptive reuse can elevate the architectural fabric of a place.

Conceived as a series of dualities, the project’s facade explores the tension between heritage and innovation. It reflects both the historical gravitas of vaults and the emerging principles of future financial technologies. Central to this expression is a cladding system crafted from thinned onyx, laminated between two layers of glass. This material choice becomes metaphor: a convergence of past and future, its solidity recalling the permanence of precious metals, its translucency suggesting the openness of distributed digital economies. The making of the onyx façade required an uncommon level of precision and restraint. Each slab was sliced to an ultra-thin 4mm, enabling the entire building to be clad using just six blocks of natural stone, an efficiency rarely achieved even in small residential projects. Every vein of stone was digitally scanned and meticulously composed into a continuous, book-matched elevation. The resulting surface offers a quiet complexity: organic yet disciplined, familiar yet otherworldly. Light animates the façade throughout the day. Under the sun, the onyx glows softly, casting warm, honeyed tones into the interior. At night, the building becomes a luminous lantern. Internal lighting reveals the stone’s delicate veining, turning the elevation into a glowing tapestry suspended against the dark sky. Complementing the onyx, the remaining elevations, particularly those enclosing the vaulting chambers, are defined by thick reinforced concrete walls clad with custom-profiled aluminium louvres. These louvres act as thermal shields for the mechanically ventilated interiors. The cavity they form with the concrete wall creates a passive ventilation stack, drawing warm air outward through natural convection and cooling the inner spaces with quiet efficiency. At the chamfered corners, precast GFRC panels introduce a chiselled, darkened texture that evokes a Brutalist sensibility. These robust corner elements ground the massing and frame the primary signage, giving the structure a sense of permanence befitting its purpose. Within, interventions remain minimal yet impactful. A double-height entry portal marks a dramatic arrival, opening into a terracotta-hued reception washed in filtered daylight from the onyx. From here, narrow corridors lead to a cavernous vault where shafts of light reveal the shimmer of precious metals. Above, a spiral staircase connects the office levels, illuminated by a skylight paired with a water feature that imparts an ethereal calm. A cantilevered meeting pod, suspended 25 metres above the vault, offers a contemplative view over the architecture of security and value. Together, these elements form a façade that is both deliberate and expressive, a quiet monument to craft, innovation, and renewal.