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DESIGNING FOR PEOPLE: INSIDE THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF M MOSER ASSOCIATES

Project by: Malvern Kandemwa

Words by: Michelle Duncan

M Moser Associates is a global architecture, design, engineering, and construction firm specialising in workplace environments. Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Wanchai, Hong Kong, the company has grown into a major international player in corporate real estate solutions, workplace strategy, and end-toend project delivery.

The firm is recognised for its integrated approach uniting architecture, engineering, construction, and workplace strategy to create spaces that enhance performance, wellbeing, and organisational transformation. Its philosophy centres on designing for people, with a strong emphasis on health, happiness, and productivity. With more than 1,000–1,300 professionals across a global network of offices spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia, the firm serves multinational corporations across sectors such as finance, technology, healthcare, and professional services.

Its core value proposition lies in delivering end-to-end workplace solutions, from concept and strategy through to build and delivery, allowing clients to reduce risk, optimise cost, and accelerate timelines.

As Regional Director at M Moser Associates, Stephen Lyon plays a pivotal role in shaping the firm’s strategic direction across key markets. With deep expertise in workplace transformation and a long-standing commitment to human-centric design, Lyon provides valuable insight into how

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organisations can create environments that support performance, wellbeing, and long-term business resilience.

Lyon explains that M Moser’s success lies in its integrated, end-toend approach—bringing together workplace strategy, architecture, engineering, construction, and digital innovation under one unified vision. This model allows the firm to deliver seamless project outcomes while ensuring that every design decision is grounded in research, data, and a deep understanding of how people work.

According to Lyon, today’s workplace challenges require more than aesthetic solutions. Organisations are navigating hybrid work, shifting employee expectations, and increasing pressure to meet sustainability targets. M Moser’s role, he notes, is to help clients rethink their real-estate portfolios through a holistic, future-focused lens, ensuring that spaces are adaptable, inclusive, and aligned with longterm organisational goals.

He emphasises three core principles that guide M Moser’s regional strategy:

DESIGNING FOR PEOPLE FIRST

Lyon highlights that every project begins with understanding the human experience. Through research, behavioural insights, and engagement with client teams, M Moser creates workplaces that enhance wellbeing, collaboration, and productivity.

INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE ACTION

He explains that sustainability is no longer optional—it is a fundamental responsibility. M Moser embeds sustainable materials, energy-efficient systems, and climate-conscious design principles into every stage of the project lifecycle, helping clients reduce environmental impact while improving operational performance.

LEVERAGING DATA AND DIGITAL INNOVATION

Lyon underscores the importance of data-driven design. By analysing how people use space and integrating digital tools into planning and operations, M Moser helps organisations make smarter, more resilient real-estate decisions.

Ultimately, Lyon believes that the future of workplace design lies in continuous evolution. As he explains, the most successful organisations are those willing to rethink traditional models, embrace innovation, and create environments that empower people to thrive. Under his regional leadership, M Moser continues to deliver transformative workplace solutions that reflect the firm’s global vision and its unwavering commitment to designing for people.

Globally, M Moser Associates has designed more than nine million square metres of workplace environments—spaces intentionally crafted not as rows of desks, but as places where people genuinely want to spend time. These are workplaces that feel welcoming, creative, productive, and, often, a little bit special.

Stephen Lyon points to M Moser’s award-winning Diageo APAC headquarters in Singapore as a standout example of this philosophy in action. Diageo looked to significantly reduce the footprint of its regional office while keeping the same number of employees and creating a more vibrant, agile environment to reflect its

iconic global brands, including Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff and Tanqueray.

The brief called for a workplace that felt energetic and innovative—an environment unconstrained by traditional rooms or fixed desks, and one where clients could at once feel the spirit of the brand. The result is a space that functions almost like a small village. Visitors entering the office pass a concierge table staffed by a hostess who guides them through a series of interconnected zones. Employees are found working fluidly throughout the space—collaborating in open areas, focusing quietly on enclosed rooms, or settling into distinct

settings known as the Studio, the Living Room, and the Store.

This approach reflects M Moser’s belief that a workplace should be more than a location; it should be an experience that supports culture, creativity, and connection.

At the heart of the office, commanding sweeping views across Singapore, sits The Bar—a signature feature of the Diageo workplace. Described as “a bar you can work in, not a bar at work,” it shifts effortlessly from a relaxed daytime setting into a lively social hub after hours. The space embodies Diageo’s global motto, “Celebrating life, every day, everywhere,” and perfectly cap-

tures Stephen’s and his team’s willingness to ask, “what if?”

“As a drinks company, they host events and entertain clients, which means highlighting their products. So, we wanted to create environmental branding,” Stephen explains. “What if we went out into the market and sourced Diageo memorabilia to weave into the space and make it feel more personal? What if we pushed it further?”

The team scoured online marketplaces and collectors’ archives, gathering vintage marketing pieces—an original Johnnie Walker figure, long-out-of-print brand books, and promotional items from decades past. These artefacts now sit proudly throughout the workplace, adding layers of authenticity and storytelling that make the environment feel deeply connected to Diageo’s heritage.

While M Moser successfully reduced the office footprint, the design blurred the boundaries between workplace, hospitality,

and retail, creating a fluid environment that offers employees far more freedom and flexibility than a traditional office. Stephen’s own workspace in the AXA Tower reflects a similar elasticity—an environment designed not around static desks, but around movement, choice, and the natural rhythms of how people work today.

Stephen describes the space as offering far more than traditional hot-desking. “It’s a bit more than hot desking because we offer different environments for different activities. It’s about being agile,” he explains. “I’m in a meeting room now because I want this to be a reasonably private conversation, but afterwards I may move to the café area to work.”

This flexibility is intentional. The workplace is designed to support a wide range of needs from focused individual work to social connection. “We have different areas for different needs,” Stephen continues. “There’s a quiet, more private room for lactating mothers, complete with a fridge to store

personal items. And then there’s another fridge full of wine at the café for socialising after work.”

The result is a workplace that adapts to people, not the other way around an environment that recognises the full spectrum of human needs throughout the day, from privacy and comfort to collaboration and community.

THE FLEXIBILITY IS INTENTIONAL.

THE WORK PLACE IS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT A WIDE RANGE OF NEEDS.

Sustainability and wellness sit at the core of M Moser’s design philosophy. Whether creating green buildings from the ground up or transforming existing offices into healthier, more human-centred environments, the firm prioritises features that elevate everyday wellbeing—cleaner air, improved lighting, ergonomic

comfort, access to fresh food, and high-quality water systems. These elements aren’t treated as add-ons; they are fundamental to how M Moser believes modern workplaces should function.

The company’s commitment is backed by deep expertise. M Moser has delivered more than 140 certified green projects worldwide and continues to expand its leadership in sustainable design. A key figure in this effort is Christine Bruckner, a specialist architect who champions best practice in sustainability and wellness across the firm. She holds multiple internationally recognised credentials, including LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and Hong Kong’s BEAM (Building Environmental Assessment Method), and was an early contributor to the International WELL Building Institute, which sets global standards for health-focused building design.

Through leaders like Bruckner and a company-wide commitment to environmental responsibility, M Moser ensures that every project—whether a new build or a workplace transformation supports both planetary health and human performance.

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