Integrated Tech Hub

Fjord & MQDC, 2021

Project Overview

Buildings serve people, whether they work and live there or not. People experience buildings holistically - their spaces, their services and their day-to-day interactions withs others. With plans to build a mixed-used thriving hubs for young tech talents and the public, MQDC partnered with Fjord to define the overall experience of the property - shaping strategy, physical and services.

View Outcome

Research

- Immersive Interviews
- Fly-on-the-wall observations

With a focus on their main target customers, we talked to young tech talents from across the Southeast Asia region to understand their daily routines, unravel the tech and startup culture, and test preliminary ideas. These tech talents spanned across Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. They came from a wide variety of backgrounds - ranging from a founder of a machine learning manufacturing startup to a tech lead at a connected toy startup to a product manager at an E-commerce company.

Additionally, the team conducted fly-on-the-wall observations at several locations across Singapore where we observed how young tech talents interacted with different spaces across the properties.

1. Phygital mall with co-working and co-living spaces
2. Tech startup incubator and ecosystem builder
3. Homes of tech giants (e.g. Facebook and Zendesk)

Synthesis

Snipplet of the insights

1. Beyond tech and tech talents

When tech talents describe the places of work which have resonated with them, they often talk about the energy that the environment provides, such as vibrant culture, constantly-changing art, dynamic physical spaces, and community events. The principles and processes behind technological innovation should also be applied beyond technology and beyond tech talents, whereby the wider community collaborates to evolve the development over time.

2. Value of diversity
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Tech talents seek diverse perspectives from people outside of their industry. They often know their realm inside and out, so they appreciate outside perspectives that they could apply. In fact, the line between tech talents and non-tech talents is blurred. Anyone (an artist, a customer, a bartender) could have a side-hustle startup or could be working with tech in their line of work.

3. Design with, not design for
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Tech talents are not easy to impress. They live and breathe tech day in and day out, so they are very aware of how technology has been applied, very wary of how technology could be applied, and very critical of how technology should be applied. In fact, tech talents are fatigued by unnecessary technology innovations and poorly-designed features that are prone to break. Instead of innovating what tech talents might need, the property developer should co-create with them.

Outcome

Development under construction

Using day-in-the-life narratives, the team created a spatial experience map that illustrated how different personas would navigate across physical spaces, experience the new services, and interact with one another. Coupled with experience principles and prototypes, this helped MQDC and its partners understand how architecture, interior, and service connect to deliver the desired experience for customers.

Construction has already started, and the project is expected to complete towards the end of 2024.