The Crest Review

When Toyo Ito designed the shape of The Crest, he did so with the understanding that such a structure will promote maximum wind flow for good ventilation. Thus the façade of its three high rise towers look very different from the other developments around it.

It’s less rigid and common, especially toward the top where it flares out, like petals on a flower reaching for the sun.

The four smaller villa blocks have a similar look, but are only four stories. Though the design is different, savvy buyers are likely to wonder about the spaces within the units. With such angular corners, layouts might not be practical, or have pillars and odd angles to be designed around.

4-bedroom Island Villa (1,604 sqft): The Crest is a luxury development with the almost mandatory private lift. The showunit for the 4-bedroom villa apartment has a lift within its grounds just before the main entrance.

Upon entering the main area, the feel of the space is somewhat smaller than expected of a villa. However, at 1,604 sqft, it is doubly interesting to see how well the bedrooms fare with regards to their size. For the living area however, it’s of a decent size.

The Crest 4BR Villa living and dining area with balcony

It’s not so big that you’d feel weird without a 60” or bigger television but it’s large enough for a couch for four or five and a coffee table.

The balcony can comfortably hold a long bench and since they’re all sheltered and protected by the necessary safety railings, making the balcony an extension of the living room when you have guests over is possible, if the weather permits.

Behind the dining table is the dry kitchen area with built-in cabinets in a gorgeous grey shade which adds much needed contrast to an otherwise white-washed unit.

The Crest 4BR Villa dry kitchen

The sink is provided though the Nespresso machine displayed does not come with the unit. That’s not a big deal because you get the heavy duty appliances like, ceramic hob, cooker hood, oven, microwave oven and a stand-alone fridge.

Even the floors are of a higher quality as the entire kitchen is decked out in porcelain tiles – a hardy and easy to maintain material.

The Crest 4BR Villa wet kitchen

The yard/utility space is quite generous, though the pantry room is not practical as a maid’s room.

For the unit, the wall was removed and replaced with a bi-fold door as an example of better alternatives toward utilising the space.

The washing machine and dryer are located in that far corner, giving you a specific space to do laundry, away from where you cook.

The Crest 4BR Villa Utility and Laundry area in wet kitchen

As a result of its layout, the wet kitchen is L-shaped A good thing about the kitchen is that while other developments that utilize the same shape end up providing a much narrower corridor and washing area, the space here is decent, with enough room for mobility.

You still won’t be able to drag in long bamboo poles, given its orientation, but you’re unlikely to intrude upon the cooking area much, if at all.

This good design can be seen throughout the unit. Even the bathrooms – common and master – benefit from the lighter tone porcelain tiles and walls.

The Crest 4BR villa common bathroom

The finish resembles wood, which is great because it makes the bathroom look comfortable without suffering the ill-effects of using actual wood in wet space.

The vanity cabinet has a little side magazine rack by the toilet, which is a nice touch by the developers.

The Crest 4BR villa master bathroom

The master bathroom is similar, albeit bigger and with two – his & hers – wash basins.

For the common bedroom – and this is a recurring trend for many common bedrooms in The Crest – their slight octagonal shape results in pointed corners which makes the room feel less functional.

While the floor plans and pictures might convey a sense of awkwardness to the rooms, it’s actually not bad at all when you are standing in the space.

The Crest 4BR Villa common bedroom

It is unconventional, but because of the balconies and the smart way the wardrobes are built to take advantage of those corners, what you’re left with is innovative usage of odd angles that celebrate its unique structure rather than make it stand out jarringly.

Case in point are the aforementioned built-in wardrobes. Where most wardrobes sit against a straight wall, a basic sliding door will suffice but over here, the wardrobe occupies an odd angle where a sliding door would create problems.

And it can’t be placed flat against any wall because it would eat up bed space. What the architect did then is both simple and ingenious.

The Crest 4BR villa common bedroom closet

Rather than fit in a regular closet which would hamper the flow of the space, the architect works with shape of the room to find a practical and useful solution.

With two bi-fold doors that open inward, the wardrobe becomes a pseudo walk-in closet that allows you to reach in easily, especially the hard to reach corners.

This design imperative to construct custom-made furniture to fit the structure is further elaborated with the elongated ID (interior design) divan/study table hybrid occupying space next to the bed overlooking the window, complete with developer provided planter on the outside.

The Crest 4BR villa common bedroom 2

While this table is ID treatment, it does represent a good idea to replicate.

Even though the balconies found in the master bedrooms may appear small, they’re really there to allow wind flow and sunlight to filter into the unit.

Natural light and fresh air makes a room feel bright and according to Feng Shui, it also channels and imbues the living space with positive energy.

3-bedroom loft (1,195sqft): This unit sports a ceiling height of 6m because it is a loft unit. However, unlike other loft units, there isn’t actually a loft included with the unit when you purchase it.

Though the permits and licenses have been given, the developer are leaving it up to the residents who choose to buy the loft unit to decide if they want to keep it as a single floor apartment with a high ceiling or install a deck of some kind to make use of the vertical space.

The Crest 3BR Loft kitchen

The loft unit, while spacious, has a less common layout. The kitchen is on the left once you enter and though it’s in its own self-contained part of the house, it seems a little unnecessary to have it so far away.

Likely, the developer made the decision to allow residents the space they will need to build a deck in the living room area that would not infringe upon kitchen space. This way, the kitchen is kept in a communal area.

As such, the 3-bedroom loft unit is actually very lucrative for rental, given that there is potential to rent out to several tenants.

Past the living room area, lies the rest of the unit. Part of the living room was partitioned off to create another room which is shown as a guest room in the showunit.

The Crest 3BR Loft rooms

As a result of this, the balcony is attached to the ‘room’ giving it a bit more boost in the total surface area.

If this room is used as a guest room or even rented out, it will benefit from having a lot of ventilation and natural light, including additional space.

The Crest 3BR Loft balcony

The balcony is layered in timber that has been burnt to a rich dark brown colour for that exquisite homely feel. When paired with white sofas, the contrast makes for a very alluring look.

The rest of the unit is just as nice with a spacious common bathroom that has the same level of quality in design and furnishing.

The Crest 3BR Loft common bathroom

The longer vanity top that follows the contours of the wall actually adds to the spaciousness by giving more standing space between the door and the toilet.

The bright porcelain tiles and walls also plays a part in projecting this roominess.

The bedroom floors however are engineered timber strips. Some form of wood flooring is common in bedrooms and with good reason; they elicit a cosy and warm look and are perfect for when the air-con is on.

Only problem with wooden floors is that they might get a bit noisy but this depends on many factors, age one of them.

The Crest 3BR Loft common bedroom

The common bedroom might appear a bit small but it owes that to the queen size bed sitting like an elephant in the room.

Also, since the structure of the unit is different from other mass-marketed developments, conventional products run the risk of not fitting well. You can find some that would gel with the layout but it will be better to custom-build furniture.

Of course this is an increased cost and but it’s a trade-off for owning a distinctive piece of property in an affluent area and finding pieces that will fit like a jigsaw puzzle.

The master bedroom however, has no such issues because it’s quite large with a walk-in wardrobe and an attached bathroom that gives it a very specific luxury hotel feel overlooking the city.

The Crest 3BR Loft master bedroom

The smaller balcony enhances the bedroom.

In regular developments, the master bedroom can give the impression of fighting for space with a balcony constantly trying to justify its presence by being of a particular size.

Over here, it’s like killing two birds with one stone. There’s a balcony, large enough for one person to sit or stand in and a bedroom that does not suffer for its inclusion. It helps that the balcony is in a little nook (or is a little nook, depending on how you look at it).

3-bedroom with guest suite (1,270 sqft): This unit is a dual-key apartment. From the private lift lobby and through the main door, the ‘guest suite’, as it is called, is on the left. Unlike other dual-key apartments, the sub-unit does not come with its own cooking/kitchen area.

For the showunit, the sub-unit is just a slightly bigger master bedroom with an attached bathroom. So although it’s sold as a dual-key, the developer’s own naming of it as a ‘guest suite/dual-key’ is more accurate.

However, Wingcrown Investment have made provisions in the DK room for a kitchenette with one caveat; the owner will have to replace the wardrobe with it. This is not an opt-in feature and is up to the owner to do their own modifications.

It is strange that a kitchenette is not included and the owner forced to make the choice on their own but it does allow for some preferential tweaking.

Owners intending to lease out the guest room on Airbnb for example, can market it as a self-sufficient room. Furthermore, with several eateries in the area including delivery services, not having a place to cook is not really a big deal for a tourist on temporary stay.

All in all though, giving up a wardrobe for a kitchen or vice versa seems like an unnecessary decision. It’s like having a hamburger without French fries; it’s doable, but it might feel weird.

The rest of the unit however, sports the same high quality finishing and spaciousness of the other showunits with the expected smart utilisation of the angular and sharp corners.