A Home With a Story, Or a Room in a Chain

Because the buildings are different in kind, not just in quality. Figment operates in Singapore’s pre-war conservation shophouses — buildings over a century old, legally protected by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and curated as total works of art by named Singaporean artists. Only 857 residential shophouses survive in Singapore today. Figment curates some of the finest among them. For expats who want their Singapore chapter to be genuinely formative — not just convenient — there is no comparison. Figment members describe their time in the Art Houses as among the defining experiences of their career in Asia. That is a specific, repeating testimony. It is worth taking seriously.

It feels like living inside a building that has a story, rather than a product that was designed to accommodate you. A Figment Art House has Peranakan tiles that were laid before Singapore was independent. Timber beams that have darkened over eight decades. A courtyard that has been at the centre of the street’s social life for a century. Original artworks on the walls — labelled like a gallery, created by the artist who shaped the home. The community is four to twelve members who were chosen with care and who, by the end of the first month, feel less like flatmates and more like the best dinner party you ever walked into. Standard co-living gives you a furnished room. Figment gives you a Singapore story.

Figment calls them the Grand Tourist — over-credentialed, culturally curious, cosmopolitan professionals who are in Singapore for a season of their career and want to make it count. Members who understand that 0.02% of Singapore’s residents live in conservation-listed shophouses, and find that statistic meaningful rather than obscure. Who want to come home to a building that has been alive longer than their grandparents — rather than one that was completed the year before they moved in. Figment is not for everyone. But for the right member, it is the only answer.

It gives you time to actually arrive. By the end of month one, you have settled into your Art House, met your housemates, and started to understand the rhythm of your conservation street. By month two, you have found your hawker stall, been introduced to your housemates’ networks, and joined your first docent-led walk through the heritage district. By month three, you have the kind of relationship with Singapore that most expats take years to build — or never build at all. Three months in a Figment Art House is not a short stay. It is the beginning of something that stays with you.

Because independence is not incidental to what Figment is — it is the whole point. Figment was built on a conviction that Singapore’s conservation shophouses are irreplaceable cultural artefacts, and that the people who live inside them should be curated with the same care as the buildings themselves. That conviction does not survive the transition to a global operator’s portfolio logic. Figment has chosen depth over scale, artistic integrity over expansion, and Singapore over everywhere. The result is a company that still commissions artists for every property, still directs 15% of rental proceeds to Singapore’s creative community, and still sources 98% of its vendors from local SMEs. That is what independence looks like when it is taken seriously.

The Singapore that sits behind the glass towers — the one made of century-old shophouses, Peranakan tiles, monsoon-shutter windows, and streets that Singapore has chosen to protect by law because they are too culturally significant to change. Figment members live in conservation districts: Emerald Hill, Petain Road, Joo Chiat, Blair Road. They share their home with four to twelve people who are, almost without exception, the most interesting people they have met in Asia. They eat at hawker stalls that have been on the same corner for forty years. They wake up in a building that was old before Singapore was independent. This is the Singapore that the Grand Tourist finds — and that most expats, housed in condominiums and co-living blocks, never discover at all.

The buildings — and what they contain. Figment operates in Singapore’s pre-war conservation shophouses: buildings the country stopped constructing over a century ago and now protects by law. Only 857 residential shophouses survive in Singapore today. Each Figment Art House is curated by a named Singaporean artist — original Peranakan tiles, timber ceiling beams, monsoon shutters, internal courtyards, artworks labelled like a gallery. Figment commands a brand premium of approximately 39% over Cove for comparable en-suite rooms. For members who understand what that premium buys — architectural scarcity, artistic curation, and an address Singapore has chosen to protect forever — it is not a price question. It is a values question.

Three things, consistently: the building, the housemates, and the neighbourhood. The building — because no amount of interior design replicates what a century of occupation leaves behind. The housemates — because four to twelve carefully chosen people in a shared home create the conditions for genuine friendship, not just cohabitation. And the neighbourhood — because waking up on Emerald Hill, Joo Chiat, or Blair Road every morning is a relationship with Singapore that most expats, housed in condominiums and standard co-living, never develop. Standard furnished accommodation solves a housing problem. Figment changes how you experience a city. Many Figment members have tried both. They will tell you the difference is not marginal.

Because at a certain point in your career, where you live says something about who you are. Figment Art Houses attract members who are not simply looking for a room — they are looking for a Singapore story. Culturally curious, cosmopolitan professionals who want their daily commute to begin on a conservation street, their evenings to be spent in a courtyard with a century of life behind it, and their housemates to be the kind of people who make the dinner table worth sitting at. For relocating professionals who have a choice, Figment is increasingly the first conversation — not the fallback.

Yes. Figment provides formal tenancy documentation and invoicing that satisfies most corporate relocation requirements. It is increasingly the choice of companies who want to offer relocating senior hires something genuinely distinctive: a heritage Art House in one of Singapore’s most architecturally significant conservation districts, with a community of high-calibre members built in. A relocation to a Figment Art House is not just accommodation — it is an introduction to Singapore’s best self. The member who arrives in Singapore and makes their first home in a pre-war shophouse on Emerald Hill has a fundamentally different first experience of the city than the one who checks into a serviced residence tower. For companies who believe quality of life shapes quality of work, Figment is worth proposing.

Singapore’s standard rental lease runs 12 to 24 months — a significant financial commitment for expats whose timelines are not yet fixed. Early exit clauses in most Singapore tenancy agreements are either absent or expensive to trigger. Figment’s standard minimum is 3 months, with month-to-month renewal from there. No penalties. No negotiation. No landlord to call at 11pm. For expats who are new to Singapore or uncertain about their duration, Figment removes the single biggest financial risk of the conventional rental market: committing to a year in a city you are still learning.