Ascott unveils “living lab” for Singapore millennials

The 32,000-square-feet facility was in partnership with SMU.

The Ascott Limited, CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, has partnered with the Singapore Management University (SMU) to launch its first living lab designed to field test various concepts for its newest brand, lyf.

Named lyf@SMU, the three-storey development allows students at SMU to try various co-living concepts and community building activities. With over 1,200 students are expected to visit the lab—each seen to clock an average stay of four hours—Ascott hopes to build a sizeable data reservoir of user preferences and space usage patterns that will provide crucial market insight for future lyf developments.

“Creative co-innovation is a key focus for lyf, a brand that is designed and operated by millennials who want to influence and define their own travel experiences,” said Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s chief executive officer.

The Edwardian-style conservation building is located in the city centre within the former home of Singapore’s Malaya Publishing House built in the 1900s. It includes co-working lounges with modular furniture, large communal tables and interactive voting boards, multimedia rooms, day beds, and napping pods.

Ascott will be using mobile sensing technology developed in one of SMU’s research labs, the LiveLabs Urban Lifestyle Innovation Platform, and will develop a “Design Thinking” course where SMU students will be able to work on branding projects for lyf.

Ascott aims to build 10,000 units under the lyf brand globally by 2020, and eyes several gateway cities countries like Australia, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.