Crest 161 condos and 18 towhomes in two six storey buildings at 150 8th Street East in North Vancouver by Adera Development Corp
Crest showcases a look that’s both classic and contemporary
Mary Frances Hill
The Province
Crest
What: A total of 161 wood-frame condo units and 18 concrete townhomes in two six-storey luxury wood buildings centrally located off Lonsdale Avenue
Where: 150 8th St. East, North Vancouver
Residence sizes and prices: Ranging from 563 to 1,300 square feet, from the $570,000s
Developer and builder: Adera Development Corp.
Sales centre: Suite 101 – 1200 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver
Centre Hours: By appointment only
Sales phone: 604-980-0016
Design buffs will immediately recognize features of West Coast Modern design at Crest, Adera Development Corp.’s planned community in North Vancouver. But it takes the ingenuity of designers like those in Portico Design Group to transform the classic look into interiors that will impress homebuyers intent on surrounding themselves in contemporary décor.
“Whether visually through views, or through the materials themselves, we want our surroundings to feel alive and fresh,” says Natalia Kwasnicki, a designer with Portico Design Group.
Crest’s “alive and fresh” contemporary space will adapt nicely to the timeless elegance of West Coast Modern exteriors, recognized for their roof overhangs, plentiful use of wood and stone, open floor plans and generous-sized windows that take full advantage of the view to the outdoors.
The style has been popular since the late 1940s, and still brings admirers to some of Vancouver’s more established sites, such as the provincial law courts downtown, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, and many structures built by master architects such as Fred Hollingsworth and Arthur Erickson.
For Kwasnicki, it was a pleasure to bring those influences indoors, by using materials that reflect North Vancouver’s natural beauty. “I think we, as West Coasters, want to be living in the outdoors, and [if] we can bring that in to our own homes, we do.”
The kitchen cabinets, for instance, are fashioned in wood tones that are very realistic for laminate, she says. These same wood tones balance contemporary white quartz.
“The visuals of the materials are in themselves nostalgic, [such as the] flat-grain wood and natural stone looking tile, but they are executed in contemporary ways,” she says.
Portico Design Group offers both light and dark colour schemes; those who select the lighter scheme would do well to bring in Scandinavian décor style to emphasize a contemporary style, she says.
“The lighter scheme is a bit bolder in its wood tone choices, which are not typical … and it’s a great palette for some matte black accents. The dark scheme is a more neutral scheme that would really work for anyone.”
Kwasnicki says she’s impressed with the ways in which buyers can tailor practical details in their suites, thanks to Adera’s introduction of the “ID By Me” interiors plan. This plan gives them many options and upgrades, including millwork and air conditioning. It allowed Portico Group designers to envision décor that can adapt to every one of these options, she says.
“Bringing all the options to the table at the beginning [of our work] allows us to design those options in, so that they work with every permutation [the buyer may choose],” she says. “We want to ensure that we are thinking about every element and that there is a cohesiveness to the design.”
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