Woods Bagot's Hong Kong studio recently unveiled Funan, a lifestyle destination and landmark project to cater for the tech savvy and socially astute public in the heart of Singapore's CBD. Funan just held its ground breaking ceremony early in September 2016 and will be relaunching in Q4 2019 on the site of the former Funan DigitaLife Mall.
Building on its legacy as the definitive IT mall in Singapore over the last three decades, Funan will go beyond selling IT products to incorporating the tech experience throughout the entire development. The design concept focuses on the need to develop a highly open and permeable environment. Flexibility is a key principle and the design showcases its capability to continually change to cater for a range of different activities throughout the day.
To support Singapore's move toward a car-light society and to promote healthy living, Funan will offer full end-of-trip services for cycling enthusiasts, including bike shops and cafes, lockers and showers. It will be Singapore's first commercial building to allow cycling through the building. Funan's ground floor will have multiple access points and gentle slopes to make it easy for both cyclists and pedestrians to enter the building. Funan will provide the CBD's first drive-through click-and-collect service at its basement levels.
As a new paradigm for living, working and playing in Singapore's city centre, Funan offers a synergistic combination of retail, office and co-living apartment components that are designed to appeal to tech-and socially-savvy consumers pursuing a quality of life in a social-conscious and creative environment. Truly mixed-use, this high performing commercial mixed-use project that includes vertically connected retail, food and beverage, serviced residences, creative office, cinemas, urban farm and roof top public sports grounds.
With community, connectivity and convenience at its core, Funan will cater to the new breed of consumers who favour a collaborative environment and authentic experiences that reflect their passions and tastes.
The retail interiors layout was developed around the concept of "Passion Clusters." The "Tree of Life" becomes a stacked vertical window to showcase and express the activities taking place in the Passion Clusters.
"Passion Clusters" concept includes incubator spaces where new to market or up and coming retailers showcase their designs; experimental spaces which offer innovative product or new concepts; as well as community spaces which provide environments to foster connections and collaborations These clusters form the driving concept of the spacial organisation of space.
As Funan's centrepiece, the 324,000sqft retail component is positioned as a platform to inspire retail innovation with a strong focus on enabling shoppers to enjoy a myriad of experiences fine-tuned to their interests. The offer is organized around "passion clusters," such as "tech," "fit," and "taste."
"The Tree of Life" is Funan's design centrepiece, will be the 'go-to destination' for the cities Maker Communities. Extending from Basement 2 to Level 4, the multi-level structure supports a variety of open spaces and studios that promote new forms of retail, experimentation and social learning. These include design ateliers for local designers and experimentation; makers to produce and promote their craft; and open studios which the public can book to conduct classes.
The fashion and lifestyle offerings in Funan will be unique. There will be a large offering of local Singapore-based designers. Visitors to the mall will also be offered a chance to participate in creating these products, to learn about the story behind each of these unique offerings. The offerings will be bespoke and aspirational, unlike other town malls in the vicinity.
The food and beverage offerings in the mall will also not simply cater to consumption. Rather, it will focus on the entire life cycle of food - from learning and growing your own food, to learning to cook and understanding the tools required to prepare your food, before finally enjoying the consumption and retailing of food products.