When Stagwell set up its new Singapore office, it turned to JLL to deliver a fully integrated AV and IT fit-out. The result is a workspace that puts experience before equipment. Hurrairah bin Sohail reports.
When Stagwell, the challenger network built to transform marketing through AI, established its Singapore hub, the company partnered with JLL to deliver a comprehensive turnkey design-build solution that seamlessly integrated workspace design with advanced AV and IT infrastructure.
The project ran concurrently with the Solaris lobby enhancement under the partnership with Vita Partners, featuring an event-ready space for tenants, grab-and-go café, striking entertainment videowall, and biophilic plantscaping.
Stagwell’s Singapore office occupies Level 8 of Solaris in One-North, located at 1 Fusionopolis Walk, Singapore 138628. Designed to bring Stagwell’s integrated capabilities under one roof, the workspace enables teams across creative, media, communications, and AI to collaborate in real time: supporting faster, more connected, and more predictive marketing delivery.
At Level 8, Stagwell’s reception sets the tone on arrival, balancing warmth and professionalism with a confident, contemporary expression of the challenger brand. Multiple digital signage displays are strategically positioned throughout the office, showcasing marketing content seamlessly integrated with the interior architecture. Rather than treating technology as an add-on, JLL’s design reflects Stagwell’s technology-led approach, by seamlessly embedding AV systems into the fabric of the workplace.
The workspace includes numerous small to medium meeting rooms and phone booths that enable focused communication and collaboration. A divisible training room provides flexibility for large-format presentations and events.
This project exemplifies JLL’s approach to workplace transformation, placing human experience at the centre rather than treating AV as mere technology deployment. The result is a workspace that balances professional function with human-centred comfort, elevating the modern workplace beyond basic function into memorable, meaningful environments that support how people actually work.
A different kind of integrator
JLL is, at its core, a real estate services firm. But in Singapore, and increasingly across Southeast Asia, the company has been building its in house capability under JLL PDS Singapore to integrate and deliver technology solutions for clients.
The drive behind this evolution is straightforward. Yeo Yun Luo, head of technical services for design & build PDS Singapore at JLL, explains the rationale: “We saw the opportunity to better align what contractors deliver with what owners actually envision for their space. Because we understand both perspectives, we built the in-house capability over the years to bridge that gap for our clients and our internal teams SEA PDS team.”
Understanding the client The project technology brief started with Microsoft Teams-first environments and global standardisation on Logitech videoconferencing technology. With Logitech and Microsoft Teams as the anchor technology, JLL built out the meeting room stack accordingly. LG commercial displays are used in meeting spaces and Samsung displays are employed as a digital signage VXT solution, while Crestron UC and control processors bring the entire ecosystem together under a unified control layer for the divisible meeting room.
Yeo notes: “Stagwell’s brief was for functional solutions that delivered consistent performance for each type of space, independent of brand preference. We made the hardware and AV solution decisions based on what created the best outcome at the right cost point for each application.”
Planning with technology in mind
One the most distinctive aspects of the Stagwell fitout is the degree to which the interior design and the AV systems were developed in dialogue with one another from the beginning.
Kelvin Lin, JLL lead senior interior designer on the project, describes a space conceived around movement, transparency, and a softening of the corporate aesthetic. The floor plan is built on diagonal lines rather than a conventional grid, a decision driven partly by the building’s orientation and partly by a desire to draw natural light deeper into the floor plate.
Lin explains: “Reflecting Stagwell’s focus on openness and connected ways of working, we wanted to maximise natural light from the front of the office all the way through to the reception. The layout creates layers: a walkway, followed by meeting rooms as a privacy buffer, then the back of house. The circulation of the space is intentional. It gives the office movement and openness rather than making it feel like a series of closed-off corridors.”
Digital displays were woven into the design from the outset rather than treated as afterthoughts. The lobby features large-format Samsung flat panels positioned to serve two distinct audiences: brand-facing content for arriving clients on one side, and a working zone for staff and patrons on the other.
Curved glass appears at key points to soften transitions. The carpet is segmented by colour across zones rather than broken by hard thresholds, reinforcing the sense of a single, flowing workspace.
Lin says: “We want the space to feel like there is movement, that it is alive. That’s why we composed a lot of screens into the space. We wanted digital content to be part of the ambient experience, in line with Stagwell’s connected and always-on approach to communication, rather than simply functional additions.”
At the heart of the AV deployment is a large divisible training room, equipped with a substantial LG display, Logitech Rally camera system, and Logitech Tap IP controller, which are unified through a Crestron solution. The room is designed to split into smaller configurations, making it adaptable for both large-scale presentations and more intimate client sessions.
Elsewhere across the floor, Stagwell’s preference for informal collaboration is reflected in the proliferation of smaller meeting spaces. A number of six-person rooms, each fitted with Logitech AV solutions, and a bank of phone booths for focused individual calls, can be found across the facility. The trend is toward more meeting points with lower barriers to use.
Yeo expands: “The emphasis on smaller, highly accessible meeting spaces supports Stagwell’s commitment to partnerships, both internally and with their clients. The brief was clear: keep it simple and minimise friction inside each room. No unnecessary boxes on the table, no complicated interfaces. Just a clean, functional AV setup that people can walk into and use immediately.”
For signal distribution, JLL opted against heavy infrastructure. Standard meeting rooms run Logitech natively over USB, while the Crestron UC engine handles switching in rooms that required it. Shure ceiling microphones support audio capture in the divisible meeting room. There was no need for a large-scale AV-over-IP matrix or traditional AV switching system, and the design was deliberately localised and self-contained on a room-by-room basis.
Acoustics and the open ceiling Much of the office ceiling was left exposed, reflecting Stagwell’s modern, open approach to the workplace and a wider trend in commercial fit-outs. Despite this, the design did not create the acoustic challenges that exposed ceilings can present elsewhere. Yeo explains: “On most projects, acoustic issues stem from using brands that haven’t been properly certified or tested for the environment. We work with key partners who’ve already completed that validation. Given this project’s scale, we also engaged an independent acoustic consultant to conduct formal testing for our client before handover, something we do for office commissions of this size.”
Enclosed meeting rooms feature a Shure MXA920 ceiling microphone to enhance acoustic performance, while open collaborative zones depend on the inherent isolation provided by Logitech beamforming microphone arrays.
The JLL advantage
Although handling the design and integration process in-house at JLL helped it run relatively smoothly, the project was not without its pressures. Timelines were the defining challenge. Yeo describes: “Projects always come with a time crunch, and this was no different. We were fortunate that we have strong, direct relationships with our supply chain. We work directly with a lot of manufacturers. When we needed stock reserved or expedited, we could make that call ourselves. That direct line made a real difference to our ability to deliver on time.”
JLL’s procurement structure allows the team to reserve stock in advance of project milestones, and this proved particularly valuable, enabling hardware to be staged and ready when the site was prepared to receive it. The Stagwell project is, in many respects, a proof-of-concept for JLL’s expanding technology practice. JLL sees a genuine gap in the market for an integrated AV and IT offering that brings design, delivery, project management, and commercial responsibility under one umbrella.
The practical benefits were evident on this project. When a display position needed to shift slightly to accommodate a structural element, the conversation happened immediately between the designer and the AV lead, in the same room, without the need for formal change orders or inter-company negotiations. When a cabling route conflicted with an interior finish, the solution was found the same day.
Yeo reflects: “The biggest challenge with AV on most projects is that if you are only a specialist integrator, and you want to install something that affects the architecture or interior design, sometimes you are not allowed to. You have to negotiate, book meetings, wait for approvals. In our model, we can communicate directly. If we want to change something in the design, we change it. That speed and that flexibility is a real advantage for the client.”