AI Associates | Translating Carl Zeiss’s legacy of optical precision into interior, this office utilizes high contrast, seamless technology, and strategic biophilia to create an environment of clarity and high-level focus.
AI Associates | The StarHub Singapore office is a powerful architectural statement on the intersection of corporate culture and holistic well-being. Our design brief went far beyond floor-planning; it required us to engineer a space that physically embodies StarHub’s energetic brand and fosters a dynamic, collaborative, and innovation-driven environment. We approached the project by developing three core narrative themes—Living, Yard, and Landmark—to guide the user experience and infuse every zone with purpose across this massive 120,000-square-foot floorplate.
The design language is instantly recognizable: vibrant, energetic, and expressive. We use StarHub’s signature green paired with a complementary colorful palette as powerful tools, integrating them through large-scale graphic installations, ambient lighting, and geometric features that stimulate visual engagement and underscore brand identity.
Living: The Welcoming Heart of the Office
The ‘Living’ area serves as the main entrance and reception, designed to make a strong first impression that reflects StarHub’s innovative spirit. This space features a bright and open layout with sleek, modern furnishings. The central circular seating area acts as both a visual focal point and a functional space for showcasing StarHub’s latest home entertainment services. Adjacent to this, a striking “green time tunnel” highlights the company’s cutting-edge enterprise technology solutions, symbolizing its role in driving technological advancements. This area doubles as a social and interaction hub, with a coffee bar and touch-down areas strategically placed to encourage spontaneous meetings and conversations, promoting an atmosphere of openness and connection.
Yard: A Playful Oasis for Staff Well-being
The ‘Yard’ is a dedicated area for employees, offering a unique take on the traditional staff entrance and breaking the mold of a conventional office environment. Designed to evoke the feeling of stepping into a cozy backyard, the space is filled with natural light, casual seating, and outdoor-inspired textures. Incorporating biophilic design principles, the use of wood paneling and planters provides necessary natural elements, creating a crucial sense of balance against the bright, man-made shapes and colors found elsewhere.
This theme strongly emphasizes Activity-Based Working and Play. The inclusion of a mini football pitch and a spectacular wall climb bouldering feature serves not only as recreational elements but as bold pieces of graphic art. These amenities foster team culture, encourage active wellness, and provide varied ways to recharge creativity and physical well-being, reinforcing StarHub’s commitment to providing a healthy work-life integration.
Landmark: Guiding the Flow and Focus
The ‘Landmark’ theme is embodied through key design elements distributed across the whole open office layout. These elements act as visual anchors, guiding movement and serving as symbolic representations of StarHub’s core cultural values—Achieve, Optimize, Collaborate, Learn, and Innovate.
A prime example is the Polygonal Cave Corner. This dynamic polygonal installation, with its colorful, geometric canopy sculpture, immediately adds vibrancy and playfulness to the common areas, allowing employees to take a refreshing mental pause from work. Crucially, this feature is not only a visual focus but also utilizes its shape and material to manage acoustics, effectively shielding the outer open work area and promoting focus.
The strategic use of Color and Texture further defines these zones. The primary palette uses greyscale and green accents, maintaining focus in the “work” areas. However, this is complemented by multi-colored finishes, furniture, and accents in the “play” areas, making the office feel more human. The change in flooring—from the common monochromatic carpet to the vibrant blue patterned rug in the Polygonal Cave Corner, and the bright green astroturf in the play area—clearly delineates different zones of activity and focus. By integrating these values into the physical space, the design ensures employees are constantly reminded of StarHub’s ethos, encouraging them to embody these principles in their daily work, all within a visually stunning and functional environment.
Project: StarHub
Location: Singapore
Design Studio: AI Associates
Photo Credit: Joseph Goh
Website: ai-associates.com
