22 November 2011

Space’s Asia Hub

The long-awaited new Space showroom in Singapore is finally open. And with it Space’s Asia Hub, a central reference point for its regional distributors and clients. Paul McGillick reports.

Located in Singapore's 'arts precinct', the new Space showroom's blend of heritage and contemporary sends the perfect signal about its more than twenty brands – the marriage of tradition and modernity.

The SIN$50 million development consists of two restored and internally re-modelled heritage buildings linked by a very contemporary glass' cube', all designed by classy WOHA Architects.

The cluster of buildings makes for a gorgeous streetscape, but also for a great variety of spaces internally. As a result, every brand gets the space it needs to communicate its unique qualities.

It also makes the showroom a destination, a kind of journey of discovery which starts at the downstairs bar and complimentary coffee and wine and includes a landscape terrace, a cool, three-storey, green-walled courtyard and two moody lofts.

At 40,000 square feet, Space's Asia Hub is both a destination and an experience. Director, Katie Page, tells friends in Australia who shop at Space "to get on a plane and have a look at Singapore – it's the evolving of our business".

This is not just about looking at products, it is about experiencing them the way you might at home. "At this level," says Katie, "you had better know what you are doing. When a customer is talking to me, they want to know that I live this."

General Manager, Syddal Wee, explains that they wanted to avoid high-traffic malls (Space was previously in one, Millennia Walk), go for a street front and "make it an attractive destination store for those who want to come".

It is, he says, all about "enhancing our position and raising brand awareness".

"Then, when people come and have a look, what they see is not a disappointment." It is, he says, about keeping a promise of an experience of quality. "It is," says Syddal, "about maintaining a certain standard in terms of presentation".

Syddal says he already has clients whose main reason for visiting Singapore is to visit Space. It really is worth the visit – and while you're there take in WOHA's astonishing School of Arts building, the Singapore Art Museum, the National Museum and the exquisite Peranakan Museum.

The arts precinct or the quality precinct?