The Guar Kepah Archaeological Gallery in Seberang Perai, Penang, is an architectural response to one of Malaysia’s most significant prehistoric sites. The 2017 discovery of the 5,710-year-old “Penang Woman” skeleton reaffirmed its importance as the new Archaeology Hub in Northern Malaysia.
The brief calls for preservation of the Excavation site filled with shell formation on Neolithic-aged midden-mounds supported with an Archaeological Gallery, Multi-purpose Hall, Archaeologist Office & Laboratory, Archival Storage of artefacts, Café and Viewing Platform. More than a museum, it is an architectural intervention that strikes a balance between conservation and storytelling.
The Guar Kepah Archaeological Gallery is a highly complex intervention, where the new Gallery is designed to delicately surround and preserve Malaysia’s only known archaeology shell-midden site. Designed to touch the ground lightly, it minimises impact on fragile excavation layers while integrating with the landscape.
A masterful dialogue of culture and context, the Guar Kepah Gallery integrates history, nature, and form, setting new benchmarks in public architecture and experiential design.
Poetics is imbued in the spatial flow. It’s a journey of anticipation and sensory heightened. Visitors cross a bridge flanked by paddy fields, ascend a gentle ramp, and explore immersive exhibits before reaching an elevated, naturally ventilated platform overlooking the preserved site. The design echoes excavation layers, revealing history rather than imposing upon it. With a humble budget, the project employs passive cooling, natural lighting, and local materials to create an ambitious landmark building of conservation and storytelling in the middle of Guar Kepah’s vast paddy field — a new national landmark of the significant archaeological legacy of Penang. The first purpose-built Archaeology Gallery was built around a live excavation site. Humble yet Bold.
