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CapitaLand’s Ascott has opened the serviced residence industry’s first-of-its-kind living lab in Singapore, where it will test the public’s response to lyf, a co-living space designed, managed by, and intended for millennials.
“We will be directly engaging the more than 1,200 millennials expected to visit lyf@SMU daily to field test various co-living concepts and community building activities,” said Ascott’s CEO, Lee Chee Koon, adding that the study will be conducted with the help of Singapore Management University (SMU).
“With each of the students clocking an average staying time of about four hours, we will be building up a sizeable data reservoir of user preferences and space usage patterns.”
Lee noted that the city-state is an ideal place for Ascott to try out new cutting edge hospitality concepts, and gather insights from well-travelled millennials who have more spending power.
Situated within the former premises of the Malaya Publishing House built in the 1900s, the lab features fun and quirky design seamlessly integrated with the Edwardian-style conservation building.
The three-storey lyf@SMU with over 32,000 sq ft of space will open on 27 February, and all of the university’s students can make use of its amenities, which are open 24 hours.
These include co-working lounges, large communal tables, interactive voting boards, day beds and napping pods, a soundproof music studio and exercise bikes that can charge smartphones.
Following the launch of lyf last November, Ascott plans to build 10,000 units under the brand globally by 2020. Among its target markets are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, China, Australia, France, Germany and the UK.
Image source: Ascott
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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