‘Recharged’ Kilang Bateri

Kilang Bateri is an excellent example of how adaptive reuse and Green architecture can be used to revitalise urban neighbourhoods, and as a springboard for economic growth among the local community and to create an attractive place to draw people into the area.

Located in Tampoi industrial area near downtown Johor Bahru, Kilang Bateri, built around 1960 by Foreveready Sdn Bhd, is a former old industrial factory building used for the production of famous Eveready batteries (old in this case is not so old, but it is an exemplary work of industrial modernism). Built on a 12-acre industrial plot, the building was a single-storey structure, rectangular in plan with brick masonry walls and rhythmic undulations of industrial-style saw-toothed roofs. After being abandoned for four years since 2010, a group of six young local entrepreneurs/shareholders decided to invest in converting the old factory into a community-based store for social events, shopping, dining, playing and hanging out. After only half a year of intense planning and construction, the converted structure was opened for business in August 2015. Regardless of the building’s new purpose, the original name of Kilang Bateri was retained, as it is so well known in the Tampoi community.

PROJECT DATA