Gem Residences Review

When Managing Partner Vincent Ong said that the ‘best way to predict the future (of property) is to change it’, no one could have imagined that Evia Real Estate would push forward unrelentingly toward imbuing their first private property with a smorgasbord of features and services that balances Gem Residences on an extremely fine line between being a residential property and a hotel.

Gem Residences 3D model

This is ironic because he also said that ‘Gem is not selling on its features’ despite being extremely feature heavy. Take those interesting aspects like housekeeping, pet pools, fitness classes and medical staff on the grounds away and you’re left with functional albeit normal-looking units.

This is not to suggest that the units are somehow not liveable because that is mostly untrue. The three showunits on display have their positives and negatives but where design and layout is concerned, they’re either basic or in the case of the 3BR Premier units, questionable.

3BR Premier (Type C5), 1,055 sqft

The 3BR unit is unfortunately a victim of its bigger size. It has an unnecessarily long corridor between a solid wall and a large kitchen leading to the living room. It’s got a large ‘waiting area’ from where you open the door but it’s useful only for shoe cabinets, logically.

3BR floorplan

The living room is not as large as it ought to be but this is due to the solid wall of the kitchen bordering it. To make the space look bigger, the unit was painted white with a large number of reflective surfaces installed.

This usually is your first warning sign that the unit advertised is not as spacious as it should or is using mirrors to hide some obvious flaws.

Living room with dining table in balcony

The lack of space here means that your balcony will have to be used as a dining area as there is simply not enough room to accommodate both within the living area. This is probably why the balcony is also quite large. This will be a problem when faced with erratic weather. Unless the owner installs a screen to keep the elements out, dining by the balcony won’t be nearly as romantic a moment as the movies like to portray.

The biggest positive here is also the one thing that has the most and best space; the kitchen.

Kitchen exterior

The high glass panel which is included in the design and delivery of the kitchen is a cool feature that most closed kitchens in other upcoming developments should at least offer. It lets you observe what’s going on in the living room for parents with small children while admitting abundant light from external sources at all times during the day without you having to switch on all the lights. It helps with keeping the electricity bill down and it does look nice.

The kitchen here also comes with everything you can see, from the fridge to the washer/dryer, oven, cupboards and the stove with hood.

Kitchen interior

Though being quite big, the kitchen is actually suited for a single person to effectively work inside. The appliances and cupboards are all within reach of one another as they are arranged in a U-shape. When necessary, two people can be in the kitchen together.

But the accessibility and functionality of the kitchen does not justify the small living spaces and long hallways. There is yet another long and narrow hallway, this time leading to the bedrooms. While such hallways are most of the time expected, that there are two long hallways in this 3BR unit is questionable design. It makes the entire setup look extremely claustrophobic.

Corridor to bedrooms

The bedrooms are also rather standard. The common bedrooms have little room for much else once a bed is placed in there so the type and size of bed the buyer chooses will be important if they have intent of installing some other furniture in them. These are fairly standard in almost every new development these days but for a project that is expecting to usher in change to the industry, it’s disappointing that those changes only come in the form of features and services rather than in the units.

And as further expected, the master bedroom is slightly better. The layout here works best since the master bedroom has its own bathroom. The wardrobe faces the entrance to the bathroom while the bed is on its left in the main area. This makes the master bedroom look more spacious.

Master bedroom

The 3BR Premier unit is certainly not as prestigious as it sounds though not altogether bad. It’s simply unfortunate that its layout makes it difficult to allocate proper space for all the important aspects of what the bare minimum of a home should have. Right now, it might seem cool to have the dining table in the balcony but in the long run, it may create some problems.

Some residents may find themselves resorting to massive renovations or having to break down the walls to the first common bedroom in order to have the dining table and living room share one floor space. The large A/C ledge also does not help with the lack of space.

2BR Premier (Type B3), 678 sqft

The 2BR Premier unit is a marked improvement over the 3BR Premier. The smaller surface area somehow makes it look bigger and the layout is far more suitable as a living space. Its biggest detractor is the open kitchen right next to the main door. However, this particular layout is quite common.

Kitchenette

It is also thankfully free of long corridors of solid walls. The living room and dining area shares a floor space while the balcony usage is less necessary. Balconies work best as extensions of the living room and with a few chairs there, it helps make the space look bigger. Furthermore, on wet days, you can remove those chairs more easily than an entire dining table.

Living and kitchen from balcony

The rest of the unit is quite standard with the common bathroom across the common bedroom and the master bedroom with its own en-suite bathroom. The master bedroom is rather good-looking and will fortunately, come without the solid wall at the foot of the bed. This means more space for the couple.

Master bedroom

For the 2BR Premier, it’s a rather basic offering for a 2BR unit. In fact, other than the name which evokes luxury, there’s little to differentiate it from a 2BR unit in other developments. But on its own, it satisfies the minimum.

1BR Suites (Type A1), 452 sqft

The 1BR suites is a great indicator of how the right colour scheme can effectively transform the look and feel of a house. Firstly, to give credit where credit is due, the 1BR apartments are no smaller than 452 sqft, which when compared to other developments that offer little more than shoebox units is a good move.

Living and kitchenette

Its interior design is also much better with a neater/smaller kitchen that provides all the basics of a studio apartment. One important caveat here is that the walls separating the main area from the bedroom were replaced with see-through glass panels for the purpose of the showflat. The actual unit would undoubtedly look smaller with solid walls. The only bathroom is attached with the master bedroom and in this unit the bedroom does appear slightly more spacious, partly due to the bathroom being on the far end of the bedroom.

The living room is for all intents and purposes, functional. It’s smaller than in the 2BR unit but decent sized for one or two persons.

1BR Suites

Out of the three showunits, this is arguably the better of the lot though it is also the most generic-looking. However, it serves its purpose admirably and should be a good buy as a studio-like apartment for singles or young couples.