_The Assembly Place: Looking beyond bricks and mortar to foster a true sense of home

Whether it’s helping young expatriates find their footing in a new city, creating vibrant and conducive environments for overseas exchange students, or building social communities where residents feel at home, The Assembly Place (TAP) is redefining co-living in Singapore.

The operator isn’t just in the business of housing; at its core, it is empowering its residents to improve their quality of life through shared interests. Since 2019, the award-winning brand has built a strong reputation for blending convenience, flexibility, and community.

Today, TAP manages more than 145 properties across the island, offering thoughtfully designed spaces that go beyond accommodation to deliver a true sense of belonging.

Extending spaces to be come social hubs

Its properties, adapted from Singapore’s iconic shophouses, apartments blocks and even a former school building, serve as spaces that prioritise communal kitchens, shared lounges, and “non-lettable” zones as the beating heart that fosters organic social interaction.

Says its CEO and co-founder Eugene Lim, “Community isn’t about fancy facilities, it’s about programming. You can have all the gyms and pools, but if people aren’t coming together, all that is just infrastructure. We organize walks, yoga classes, social dinners and other activities through our proprietary app. People from different buildings meet and mingle. Friends are made naturally. Honestly, sometimes we joke that we might unofficially be Singapore’s largest dating agency.”

The TAP team curates events that bring residents from across properties together. One recent initiative was a nature walk at Sungei Buloh wetlands for healthcare workers—part of a broader commitment to wellbeing and appreciation.

Adds Eugene: “Ninety-five percent of our members are expatriates. Every time they join an event, they meet someone new from another house. They start asking, “Which location do you live at?” Friendships spark naturally.”

Connecting lives, creating bonds

TAP’s new launches this year look set to ride on the same premise of community engagement.

Three-star boutique hotel Social on Outram, located at 261 Outram Road, features 26 keys across a four-storey pre-war shophouse. Residents occupy standard rooms of 130 sq ft with a single bed, or premier rooms of about 193 sq ft with a queen-sized bed. These are located on the first three storeys, while the reception area and guest amenities such as a lounge, coin-operated laundry facility, and a shared pantry, are situated on the top level. Guests will be invited to participate in bi-weekly community events.

Commune@Henderson, perhaps its most radical initiative to date, is an intergenerational living concept ― and Singapore’s first senior co-living concept ― that aims to create intergenerational bridges between students and seniors. Located at 98 Henderson Road, it offers seniors and university students lodging facilities within a four-storey block with 292 beds across 102 rooms, and a single-storey building with an air-conditioned residents’ lounge, dining areas and indoor and outdoor gyms. The two buildings are separated by a landscaped courtyard.

Photo: Albert chua/EdgeProp Singapore

Story Circle events are held to enable older residents—many of them retired professionals—to share their life experiences with younger ones. Such programming does more than inform—it uplifts. “One of our residents used to be a C-suite executive in banking,” says Eugene. “It’s a chance for residents like him to empower the younger generation, who can learn from their life experience, and get insights into the professional working world. It gives our seniors purpose. They feel useful again. And the students? They begin to look at these uncles and aunties differently. They start saying hello in the kitchen.”

With such cross-generational exchange being rare in Singapore, the TAP team believes connection becomes natural through the winning formula of the right environment, plus the right storytelling.

And looking ahead, TAP is determined to stay future-proof.

Explains Eugene: “I think in decades. Today, a student stays at our campus. Tomorrow, they move into a co-living space as a professional. Years later, maybe they’ll stay in our senior living. We aim to graduate members through our ecosystem, from youth to adulthood to senior life, all connected. That’s the vision of community building—long-term, thoughtful, integrated.

“We house students, working professionals, and seniors. If I’m lucky enough to still be in business in 20 years’ time, maybe someone who was a resident in his undergraduate days will return for senior living. They would have journeyed through all our spaces.”