lyf one-north (pronounced as “life”) – have your cake and eat it too?

Throwing this popular English proverb, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” some food for thought, this idea gestated into the ‘lyf’ brand by The Ascott Limited (Ascott) which challenges the radical thinking that work, play and dwelling have to be in separate spaces.

Parent company Ascott is one of the conglomerates in the hospitality space, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Investment that is headquartered and listed in Singapore.

Ascott, a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Investment Limited, pioneered Asia Pacific’s first international-class serviced apartment with the opening of The Ascott Singapore in 1984. Today, Ascott’s portfolio spans over 200 cities across over 30 countries in Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the USA.

The company’s serviced apartment, coliving and hotel brands include Ascott The Residence, The Crest Collection, Somerset, Quest, Citadines, lyf, Préférence, Vertu, Harris, Citadines Connect, Fox, Yello, Fox Lite and POP!.

Furthermore, they also have an extensive repertoire of accolades for 2021. Here are some of them which are earned in Singapore:

• World’s Leading Service Apartment Brand 2021

• Best Serviced Residence Group – Asia Pacific (6th consecutive year)

• Best Serviced Residence Brand – Asia Pacific (18th consecutive year)

• Asia’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand 2021 (6th consecutive year)

• Singapore’s Leading Serviced Apartment Brand 2021 (2nd consecutive year)

Enough about the grown-ups, who or what then is the identity of lyf? As a hospitality concept, lyf’s goal is to provide coliving spaces where work-live-play can all be satisfied under one roof with its primary target audience of digital nomads, technopreneurs, creatives and the ambitious go-getter looking to “live their freedom” in a dynamic environment.

Projects in the image of lyf spans across 18 properties with over 3,300 units in 14 key cities across 9 countries with new additions coming up in Bangkok, Cebu, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Shanghai and Xi’an. 3 of them are right here in Singapore! The very first edition being lyf Funan that is integrated into the newly-renovated Funan Mall and the latest two editions being lyf one-north and lyf Farrer Park.

lyf’s signatures can be easily distinguished by their creative spaces within the properties that exemplify the fluid concept of work-live-play altogether, a community forged through constant engagement where travellers get to interact and stay connected through #virtuallyf, incorporating the spice of local flavours through partnership with locals to bring about authentic experiences and elevating stay experiences through #lyfgoesLOCAL and finally a crew who is ever ready to become your new found friend.

Going right into the start of the story lyf one-north, let us take a dive into the waves of disruption they will be bringing about to the home of a sleeping giant, one-north.

 

Location & History

With the name one-north, these might be some keywords that immediately spring to mind:

• Mediacorp

• Fusionopolis

• Biopolis

• Timbre+

• JTC launchpad

• Anglo Chinese School(s)

• Black and white houses

• Razer Southeast Asia Headquarters (recent addition 2021)

For those who are not into trivia, here is a fun fact that the name one-north is actually derived from the fact that Singapore is one-degree to the North of the equator.

The 200-hectare sector is developed by JTC Corporation to create a “work-live-play-learn” environment incorporating education institutes, residences, research facilities and recreational amenities as well which provides the perfect setting for lyf one-north put down their roots.

The precinct of one-north is divided into 10 key sectors(now you know why we call it a giant):

Biopolis

A biomedical research-and-development hub intended to boost collaboration between biotech companies and research institutions. Till date it is made up of 13 buildings: Genome, Centros, Matrix, Nanos, Proteos, Chromos, Helios, Bureaus, Immunos, Synapse, Amnios, Procter & Gamble Innovation Centre and Nucleos

 

Fusionopolis

Initially named Technopolis, it was renamed Fusionpolis in 2003 with the aim to inspire fusion of ideas from the arts, business and technology sectors. This sector is made up of 8 buildings: a two-tower podium Connexis and Symbiosis, Innovis, Kinesis, Synthesis, Solaris, Nexus@one-north, Sandcrawler(HQ for Walt Disney) and Galaxis.

 

Mediapolis@one-north

Proposed as Singapore’s first digital media hub with infrastructure and technology to support media production, financing and distribution. This is home to the largest media company in Singapore; Mediacorp.

 

Wessex Estate

Ownership of Wessex Estate was taken over by JTC in 2004 in an attempt to encourage people in the creative industries to live and work within one-north. The estate consists of colonial walk-up apartments and semi-detached houses (a.k.a black and white houses) which have been converted into work lofts, home offices and home studios. A village square was also constructed to provide a space for art exhibitions, music and dance performances along with other art-related events.

 

one-north Park

First public park in Singapore that provides wireless internet access located along North Buona vista Road. Launched on 23 February 2006, the park is managed by Nparks and serves as the ideal location for interactions, gatherings and events for the residents of one-north. It’s also entirely legal to take your Segway out for a ride here.

 

Rochester Park

This is the main chill-out zone of one-north with 11 refurbished black-and-white colonial bungalows that have been converted into restaurants, cafes and retail shops.

 

Pixel

Contrary to the name, this building is not owned by Google (Google’s mobile phone range is named Pixel as well). It is in fact home to specialised schools supporting the infocommunications technology and digital media industries. You are able to attend specialised degree-level courses in games development offered by DigiPen Institute of Technology which is an American computer animation and programming school.

 

 

Vista

This area serves as the main corporate and business-support cluster of one-north. Made up of offices, hotels, shops and entertainment outlets, it serves as a social gathering place and transport hub as well for corporate workers and residents. Key buildings here include: The Rocherster, The Star and Metropolis. The more prominent landmarks would be The Star Vista retail mail and The Star Performing Arts centre and also The Rochester being a mixed-used development made up of a condominium, a hotel and a mall.

 

JTC Launchpad @ one-north

This was a collaborative project between JTC and SPRING Singapore to provide start-ups with a conducive and vibrant environment along with nearby amenities of food outlets(Timbre +), collaboration spaces, meeting rooms and sports facilities as well.

 

Nepal Hill

Finally, we are here at Nepal hill where lyf one-north has set roots in. Before that, the initial planning direction was to transform Nepal Hill into a regional centre for leadership training and talent development. The area is now home to ESSEC Business School and the refurbished black-and-white bungalows have been converted into teaching facilities in Unilever Four Acres Campus. These black-and-white bungalows were home to the British officers and their families in the early 1950s and awarded a conservation status in 2010. The name Nepal Hill was given in recognition of the strong ties that the British Crown had to the sovereign country of Nepal during Singapore’s British colonisation times.

 

In summary, the area of one-north is segmented into areas for different specialities in their own industry verticals. With over 400 companies, 15 public research institutes, 5 institutes of higher learning and corporate universities amounting to over 50,000 professionals, lyf one-north comfortably fills the gap in the shortage of dwelling units within the area. We are excited to see how different their offerings are compared to the already existing options from refurbished conservation black-and-white houses to regular residential apartment units.

 

 

Accessibility

 

In terms of getting there, lyf one-north is just shy of a 5 minutes walk directly across the road from one-north MRT exit B. If you are driving, it is a mere 5 minutes drive along North Buona Vista Road once you exited AYE. Do take note that as the area of one-north promotes being car-lite, there are very limited parking spaces available at lyf one-north. The nearest alternative parking would be across the road at Connexis which also has BlueSG pick-up/drop-off lots.

 

 

Going down the MRT lines, you are one MRT stop away from Buona Vista which will connect to the Eastwest line which transports you to the Central Business District(CBD) area in 20-25 minutes if you are required to travel for meetings or work there.

You are just 6 stops to Harbourfront station which connects to the Northeast line and also to transit from Harbourfront to Sentosa Island for a day at the beach and other attractions at Resorts World Sentosa such as: S.E.A Aquarium, Universal Studios, Adventure Cove and a Casino for the risk-takers.

 

 

 

There are also 3 new MRT stations: Keppel, Cantonment, Prince Edward will complete the circle line in 2025. Once completed, one-north station will be integrated into the MRT network to bring you all the way to Marina bay/Bayfront area in 30 minutes where the popular Marina Bay Sands & Marina Bay Financial Centre districts are located.

Facilities & Amenities

 

As you near the entrance of the building, you will be greeted by this futuristic portal gateway welcoming you to an alternate dimension where you get to leave your old life behind(for a while at least) and be portaled into a lifestyle where new experiences await.

The property consists of 324 units housed in two towers that are connected via a link bridge. This seven-storey project is designed by award-winning Singaporean architecture firm, WOHA. WOHA is famed for their “System Thinking” strategies and principles in creating high-density urban environments that are also high-amenity and provide a better quality of life with environments that are vibrant, engaging and planned for long-term growth and sustainability.

As seen in the reflection of their works that are usually made up of spaces that promote human interactions, foster a spirit of community, responsible use and preservation of nature through their biophilic building designs.

As for their track records they are involved in all types of project nature (images taken from website) from Government projects; Kampung Admiralty, up-coming Punggol Digital District.

Hospitality projects; Up-coming redesigned Pan Pacific Orchard, Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Oasia Hotel Downtown

Residential projects; SkyVille @ Dawson, Meyerhouse, Watten Estate

*images taken from WOHA website

 

You will also notice that the building facade design has a very futuristic look where the room windows appear almost like portals or circular-shaped windows like those you see on spacecrafts.

 

With the #lyfxart movement, there are multiple mural artworks within the development with a statement piece crafted by local graffiti writer and street artist Didier “Jaba” Mathieu. This statement piece is going to be adorning the façade of lyf on-north which will eventually be a 7-storey wall mural that is going to be over 25 metres in height taking the throne of being the tallest mural wall art on a private development in Singapore. His design direction being an aspiration for a utopian planet in the future where nature is interwoven in a sustainable city that is filled with greenery and biophilic designs connected by a highly sophisticated transport system. You will definitely not miss it when passing by along Portsdown Road once it is completed.

You will also notice later on as we walk through more of the amenities that the general artwork encompassing lyf one-north is focused around adventures transcending reality, strikingly represented through designs such as portals, journeys and channels. Through the exhibit of these murals, the ambition is to show how such a future can be more than just a dystopian notion which can only be experienced in sci-fi genres.

Level 1

Entering the reception area, the ‘Say Hi’ counter is where you go to literally say ‘Hi’ and lyf’s crew will assist with your check-in process. Conveniently located right next to the reception counter is a grab-and-go shelf filled with light bites and a Starbucks DIY barista machine for that caffeine fix as you await your room allocation.

Tips if you are new to the area of one-north: If you ask nicely, the front desk crew will reveal a specially curated guidebook as part of #lyfgoeslocal which consists of recommended activities that you can engage in for unique experiences within the neighbourhood along with top hits amongst gastronomers for both sweet or savoury cravings.

With the same reception hall area is also where you will find ‘Connect’, co-working spaces readily equipped with powerpoint and charging stations should you prefer a more open area to get work done. Students are also commonly seen sharing the space in their study pairs or groups where it almost seems as though the peer pressure atmosphere would manifest into a tangible being that encourages each of them to forge on in their academic studies.

Tucked neatly into the corner of the level 1 reception area is where you will find ‘Burn’ which is the literal translation of working out. Usage of the ‘Connect’ and ‘Burn’ zones comes at no additional charges to guests.

 

The corridor connecting both building wings is adorned with more mural artwork decor, this time from highly acclaimed local team Mural Lingo which features designs that promote communal living and interactions between people in a futuristic arcadia where virtual reality, mixed reality and use of holograms are the new norm. The design angle follows a similar concept of inspiring people not to be bounded by regular borders or boundaries and encouraging more interaction and immersive experiences.

 

At the end of the corridor, you will be face-to-face with one of the most funky looking DIY laundromat styled with mural chicken motifs. Yes you read that right, ‘CHICKENS’. Now this might seem a little random and out of place, but the inspiration behind the chickens is also due to a little influence from the history of the one-north area rumoured to be home to chicken farms back in its early heydays.

 

In need of a little more exclusive space usage? The ‘Collab’ indoor meeting room is just right for any functions up to a maximum of 50 pax depending on which type of configuration you require for the furniture arrangement. You can always connect with the lyf crew on your booking arrangements and requests and they will be more than happy to assist on your requirements. Do note that additional charges apply for the usage of ‘Collab’ and rates differ for weekdays and weekends bookings.

 

Should you require a much larger event space there are also the outdoor options of ‘Meet’ which is in an Amphitheatre arrangement(level 1); perfect for you to host your own mini concert and also ‘Hang out’(level 7) at the rooftop lawn which will be great for private functions. The clubhouse is also located at the rooftop level to complete the ideal event planning requirements.

Level 2

 

As we head up to level 2, this is where you will find the ‘Dip’ which is a 25m lap pool for that much required dip to cool off from the sweltering heat. lyf one-north is the only lyf property in Singapore so far that comes with a pool, so abuse it to the fullest to maintain your tan or as a wake up mechanism after all your long zoom meetings.

 

Right beside the pool area is where you will find the outdoor ‘Chill Out’ area that comes with outdoor seating and also a BBQ pit to satisfy any smokey cravings. ‘Bond’ which is the communal social kitchen is also located here with options of indoor and outdoor seating.

 

‘Bond’ comes fully equipped with an extensive range of appliances and cooking equipment that anyone may require to whip up a storm. As there are no refrigerators within the rooms, you can store your cold items here, just remember to label them accordingly. The cooking counter comes with 4 induction cooking hobs and 2 built-in ovens along with the required utensils and culinary equipment for your masterpiece. Do note that applicable safe distancing measures apply at the time of writing.

We can also tell from the facility arrangement and planning that most of the spaces have been carefully planned to foster interaction and communal living even though lyf one-north itself can be considered more of a serviced apartment status.

Nearby Amenities

 

Heading outside the lyf one-north for a little breather and a walk around, you will be just a 5-minute walk away from Fusionopolis for you to settle any F&B needs and also retail options. A further 5-minutes walk will take you to trending Timbre+ where you get to enjoy local food along with innovative cross fusion cuisine with the ever-ready local bands rocking the stage.

Being a car-lite area, commuting via bicycle is a common way of getting around the neighbourhood. Taking a page out of the curated guidebook which you can request from the lyf crew, there are interesting places such as one-north park and also the Wessex Estate area to capture insta-worthy pictures of the vintage black-and-white colonial houses which housed British officials and soldiers during the World War II Era all within a 10-minute cycle.

 

Lodgings

 

There are 2 room types at lyf one-north, a single floor plate studio layout ‘One Of a Kind’ that is 129 sqft and a double storey loft layout ‘Level Up with the resting area on the 2nd level at 183 sqft.

Each room comes adorned with similar mural art and all the basic sanitary fittings and also a study/work desk. Queen size beds are also provided along with a television that doubles up as a screen for your movie nights.

 

Daily rates start from $112.50+ and for longer term stays at $2,300.30+/month. As residential dwelling units in the one-north area are quite scarce, here is a quick comparison with available units in the area which are open for rental. Just to keep in mind that for rental of residential units, you may have restricted access to common facilities and also not the rates have not factored in utilities expenses depending on how the tenancy agreement is being negotiated.

 

Conclusion

Be it whether it is for working professionals with offices in the one-north area looking for long-term rental stays or staycationers and people who are in their transition of awaiting their newly renovated homes. Lyf one-north is a great option if you are looking to up your game to living a dynamic lifestyle that transcends conventional thinking that work-live-play should take place in separate spaces and are tired of cookie-cutter dwelling units, then lyf one-north should be your next stop to start your experience.

To kick start your experience, you may direct your enquiries via email to [email protected] or dial 67369800 for assistance on more information or bookings.