A Coal-Fired Power Station That Became a Nightclub, and Is Now Dyson's Headquarters
The short version: Singapore's St James Power Station was built in 1926 as the island's first public power station. After it stopped generating it served as a warehouse, then as a nightclub; it was gazetted as a national monument in 2009 and became Dyson's global headquarters in 2022. A building that has changed identity four times and is still standing owes that not to being perfectly preserved, but to somebody finding it a new use each time.
In 1927, this was the building that lit Singapore
Designed by Alexander Gordon and Preece with Cardew & Rider, it was completed on 3 June 1926 and formally opened on 7 November the following year. It was Singapore's first coal-fired public power station, and the first industrial building of its kind in Southeast Asia. The red brick outer walls, the steel trusses inside and the two tall chimneys amounted to a very plain announcement: there is electricity here now.
It ran until it was decommissioned in 1976. For most industrial buildings the story ends at that point — demolished, the land turned over to something else. This one wasn't.
Warehouse, nightclub, then monument
In the 1980s the Port of Singapore Authority converted it into a semi-automated high-bay warehouse. Between the 1990s and 2018 it became a nightlife venue, at one point the busiest cluster of clubs on the island — for a lot of people, the name "St James" still means that period and nothing else.
On 11 November 2009 it was gazetted as Singapore's 60th national monument. That status matters. Once a building is listed, any alteration has to go through review, which effectively forces every subsequent occupant to think about how to coexist with the original fabric rather than how to turn it into whatever they had in mind.
Dyson moves in: everything added can be taken away
Restoration work began in 2019, and Dyson's global headquarters opened on 4 March 2022 — roughly 110,000 square feet of office space across three floors. The restoration was carried out by W Architects together with Studio Lapis.
What was kept: the red brick facade, the steel structure, the tall industrial volume and the two chimneys. What was added was deliberately held at a distance from the original structure — a spiral staircase (its form a nod to Dyson's own cyclone technology), micro-perforated timber panels and acoustic ceilings to handle sound, and planted zones doing the work of absorption and division. The interior of the western chimney was opened up as shared space, with the lighting kept deliberately low so that the fittings don't break up the chimney's proportions.
It looks like design restraint; it is really strategy. Reversible work means that the next time this building changes hands, nobody has to smash out the last occupant's traces first. It has already been through that three times.
Scale it down to a house and the logic holds
The usual approach to renovating an older apartment in Taiwan is to fix cabinetry, shelving and partitions permanently to the existing walls. It looks tidy, and the price is that the home now belongs only to this owner: when you move you take nothing with you, and the walls are left with a row of holes to fill.
The alternative is to separate structure from use: leave the walls alone as far as possible, and let storage and function be handled by furniture that can be moved and taken apart. That is precisely what the Korean brand RARERAW does. Behind it is Simpleline, a steel workshop founded in 1978, and all of its steel furniture is designed to be disassembled — desks, drawer units and shelving can all be reconfigured or moved out as a set.
If you're after furniture of that kind, the RRW Drawer unit on castors (NT$12,400) and the RRR Side Table (NT$4,600) are both entry-level in scale, while a full wall of storage is worth exploring in the RARERAW range. Another brand that grew out of an old building is Denmark's FRAMA, headquartered in an 1878 pharmacy in Copenhagen; the details are in this piece.
If you want to see it for yourself
The office floors aren't open to the public, but there is a free Heritage Gallery inside the western chimney, and a Heritage Trail around the site displaying restored maritime and industrial artefacts. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:30 and closed on Mondays; you need to book a time slot online in advance and scan the QR code emailed to you at the entrance. The address is 3 Sentosa Gateway, on the way over to Sentosa.
Frequently asked questions
What is St James Power Station, and who occupies it now?
It was Singapore's first coal-fired public power station, completed in 1926 and formally opened on 7 November 1927, and it stopped generating in 1976. On 11 November 2009 it was gazetted as Singapore's 60th national monument. Restoration began in 2019, and on 4 March 2022 it became Dyson's global headquarters, with roughly 110,000 square feet of office space across three floors.
Can members of the public visit?
The office areas are not open to the public, but there is a free Heritage Gallery inside the western chimney, along with an outdoor Heritage Trail displaying restored maritime and industrial artefacts. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed Mondays; you must book a time slot online in advance and enter with a QR code. The address is 3 Sentosa Gateway, Singapore 098544.
What was kept in the conversion, and what was added?
Kept: the red brick facade, the steel structure, the tall industrial volume and the two landmark chimneys. Added: a spiral staircase whose form echoes Dyson's cyclone technology, plus acoustic treatment including micro-perforated timber panels and acoustic ceilings. The interior of a chimney was converted into shared space, with lighting kept deliberately low so as not to disturb the original sense of structure. The restoration was carried out by W Architects together with Studio Lapis.
What can a Taiwanese home renovation learn from this project?
The most practical lesson is to make whatever you add reversible. In this project the staircase, partitions and services all sit independently of the original structure, so removing them leaves no wound in the building itself. The same applies at home: rather than fixing cabinetry permanently to old walls, choose steel furniture that can be moved and taken apart, so it comes with you when you move and the walls need no patching.
Why have industrial spaces kept turning into offices and homes in recent years?
Industrial buildings were built to house large machinery, so they have high ceilings, long spans and plenty of windows — conditions that happen to match a modern preference for open space and natural light. In Taiwan the same logic shows up when old apartments are opened up or light-industrial units are converted to housing; the only real difference is that the scale is far smaller.
Sources
- St James Power Station official website
- Dyson Newsroom: Where form follows function
- Wikipedia: St James Power Station
- Image: Wikimedia Commons, photo by GoAheadFan95, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Prices and stock: NOSA RARERAW products
