Village de Ananti offers juxtapositon of past and future

Korean luxury hotel and resort operator Ananti unveiled its grand new property in Busan’s Gijang County, next to its Ananti Hilton Busan and Ananti Cove properties, on July 18. Named Village de Ananti, visitors to this expansive 160,000-square ...

An aerial view of an outdoor swimming pool at Village de Ananti in Gijang County, Busan, which opened on July 18. [VILLAGE DE ANANTI]

BUSAN — Korean luxury hotel and resort operator Ananti unveiled its grand new property in Busan’s Gijang County, next to its Ananti Hilton Busan and Ananti Cove properties, on July 18. Named Village de Ananti, visitors to this expansive 160,000-square-meter (40-acre) “village are here not merely to have a relaxing vacation but for an experience that positively changes our lives, helps us to create a future we want to live in and reminds us of what we should not forget.”

Lee Man-keu is CEO at Ananti, although the hotel and resort operator uses the title Chief Executive Helper. He told reporters from Seoul on Thursday while showcasing his new property that he hopes this place to be where ocean and forest, city and country life and the past and the future coexist.”

“I wanted to create a feeling of unfamiliarity within this coexistence and I think it has been realized to a certain level, so I am quite satisfied with the outcome,” Lee said.

To create its latest resort or “platform” — the word Ananti prefers to use for its resort complexes — Ananti heaped up some 2 million tons of soil to create a private hilly area surrounded by 70,000 of trees that overlook the peninsula's southeastern coast.

A view of LP Crystal [VILLAGE DE ANANTI]

Mobvdick Market sells high-end groceries and liquor from across the globe. [VILLAGE DE ANANTI]

The platform has 392 different cabins, including a private villa, a penthouse and a hotel. There are 11 serene squares within the property, five swimming pools and a cultural complex filled with shops, a gallery, a cafe and a bakery plus a 3.6-kilometer-long (2.2-mile) promenade encircling the complex. Among the cabins, 278 are for members only, while 114, all at Ananti At Hotel, are for non-members. Even the non-member cabins are all lofts with two king-size beds, a living room and a balcony, allowing family members to stay in one room.

To hear more about Ananti’s new platform Village de Ananti, the Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Lee on Thursday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Lee Man-keu, chief executive helper of Ananti [VILLAGE DE ANANTI]

Q. Ananti has several properties across the country including Namhae, Gapyeong, Gangnam in southern Seoul and Busan. Compared to all the other properties, Village de Ananti seems to have used a lot of vivid colors such as red, green, and hot pink, making it look very foreign. What image did you have in mind when designing the village?A.The use of bold colors is because, as I said, we wanted this place to be where the past and the future coexist. For the past, I wanted it to be reminiscent of the 1950s and '60s, as it was an era soon after World War II, in which many traditions of the past remained alongside an explosion of modern technologies. I think that was the most prosperous time in human history. People were happy and when I looked at pictures and films from that time, the use of colors was bold. I wanted this property to be reminiscent of that retro era.

People at that time thought that nothing was impossible. It was an era of happiness where the past and the future coexisted. Looking back, many technologies available today were developed during that time. Using bold colors for this property was not the goal, but a way to bring out that memory and sentiments from that time via the colors.

You developed 11 plazas within the resort, which is a lot. Is there a specific reason for this? As I said, I hope this place is an area of coexistence. It’s not just for Ananti members but for our non-member guests, or even day visitors who come here to enjoy the greenery and the shops. I think one of the things that Korea lacks compared to other developed countries is a plaza. When you compare cities in Korea with other cities in Europe, we can say we almost have no plazas in Korea.

A plaza is where people from various walks of life come together. This is what Ananti is pursuing. We hope people with different backgrounds, stories, and nationalities all come to visit Village de Ananti to harmonize and enjoy life at Ananti's different plazas. There will be a jazz performance every Friday evening in the main plaza and we hung art pieces throughout the different plazas. I think visitors, even if they are not staying with us overnight, will enjoy visiting the Ananti platform.

The beautiful landscape is Ananti's other strength. You seem to have put a lot of effort into landscaping Village de Ananti and building an eco-friendly system. Could you elaborate? That's right. I am personally more pleased with the landscape than the architecture at Village de Ananti. It was important for Village de Ananti to secure different types of trees and shrubs and the perfect lawn. After planting all the trees and shrubs, turfing the land was the final step. However, due to the heavy rain, the turf farms we work with could not provide us with the number of products we needed as they were all soaked. Opening day was approaching and about half of the lawns were not turfed. So what did we do? We removed the turf from the fairway in our golf course in Namhae Ananti and laid it here just in time. I really want to take this opportunity to thank all our staff members who worked day and night to make it happen, keep our promise and open the hotel to welcome the guests who made bookings many months beforehand to be the first ones to experience Village de Ananti.

A private villa for members only at Village de Ananti [YIM SEUNG-HYE]

A loft cabin at Ananti At Hotel [VILLAGE DE ANANTI]

You seem to emphasize that building a top-notch property to provide guests with an unforgettable experience is more important than calculating efficiency and profitability. Is that right? In some ways, profitability and efficiency are talked about a lot in the hotel business. But the hotel business should be differentiated from the manufacturing business. I think it’s wrong to start with these two focuses. Say you are making a film. You have to think about storytelling first, and calculating profitability and efficiency comes after that. The same goes for writing a novel.

The hotel business is similar to that in that sense. It should focus on storytelling and sympathizing with people first. I think hotel businesses have lost this focus due to the influence of big hotel chains from America but hotels originated in Europe. It had stories and people had experiences. I don’t know what to tell people who ask me if what I’m doing would be efficient. I want to ask them a question in turn. “What does being the most efficient mean? Isn’t it when a hotel makes guests happy?”

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]