18 Cross featured in The Façade: bridging heritage and modernity in Singapore’s CBD

Between Chinatown’s heritage streets and the city’s glass towers, 18 Cross brings new life to its neighbourhood through adaptive reuse – a revitalised façade shaped by design, craft and cultural intent.

Once an industrial block, the new podium now features a modular façade of lightweight PVDF-aluminium with timber-aluminium accents, developed through parametric modelling and prefabrication to achieve precision and efficiency within a tight two-year timeline. Echoing the rattan blinds of heritage shophouses, curved soffit lines sweep across the elevations, softening the modern expression while grounding it in context. The design enhances daylight penetration into the interiors and improves thermal comfort and overall energy performance. 

“It’s more than an aesthetic enhancement,” says Gregory Kovacs, Design Director at Benoy. ​“It’s a critical move toward reintegrating the building into its social, cultural, and economic contexts.”

By merging craft, technology and sustainability, 18 Cross becomes both gateway and gathering space, a bridge between heritage streets, the modern city and the surrounding community.

Full feature in The Façade #32 – 2025 (pages 26 – 31)

Read more about 18 Cross on our [project page]