lyf Chinatown Singapore

The Ascott Limited has opened its fifth lyf-branded property in Singapore, converting a row of conserved shophouses on Chinatown's Mosque Street into a 90-room co-living building. lyf Chinatown Singapore pairs a communal kitchen, co-working lounge and rooftop pool with design details drawn from the street's Chulia trading history. It welcomed its first guests on July 3, 2026, bookable nightly but with a six-night minimum stay that marks it as closer to extended-stay living than a conventional hotel.

The place

lyf Chinatown Singapore occupies 25 Mosque Street, within a development known as Jamae Chulia Heritage, in the heart of Singapore's Chinatown conservation district. The land belongs to a Wakaf (Muslim religious trust) managed by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), developed in joint venture with Warees Investments, and the project's name and design references trace back to the Chulia community of South Indian Muslim traders who historically settled the street.

The concept

lyf Chinatown Singapore is the fifth Singapore property for Ascott's lyf brand, a co-living concept organized around shared space and community programming rather than the conventional room-and-corridor hotel layout. The 90-key building combines a row of conserved shophouses with a new-build extension, following groundbreaking in May 2024. The design draws on the site's Chulia trading history: commissioned artwork built around a recurring Queen's Crepe Myrtle flower motif references the traders' Coromandel Coast origins, alongside lanterns, koi fish imagery and a check-in counter styled after a traditional Chinese medicine cabinet. Rooms are split into nine categories sized for solo travellers up to groups of six sharing connected units. The smallest, the Nano Twin, measures 161 square feet and includes a shared kitchenette and two super-single beds, dimensions closer to a serviced apartment than a hotel room. The property is bookable by the night through Ascott's own channels, with published rates from SGD 119 for a Nano Twin, but a six-night minimum stay applies. That puts the format closer to extended-stay or co-living accommodation than a conventional overnight hotel, even though it operates as a hotel-branded, individually bookable property rather than a leased residence.

Dining & wellness

In place of a restaurant, lyf Chinatown Singapore is built around a set of shared social spaces the brand names in its house style: a communal kitchen for cooking and shared meals, a co-working lounge, a rooftop pool, a gym and a communal laundry. Programming tied to these spaces includes guided heritage walks through Chinatown, Chinese tea-tasting sessions, and calligraphy, henna and perfumery workshops run with local partners.