Ananti Box Houses

The Ananti Penthouse Haeundae and Hilton Busan, designed by SKM Architects, are the core accomodations facilities of the ‘East Busan Tourist Complex’, which is the plan of the City of Busan to create a tourist landmark. Ananti Penthouse is made up with 353m² penthouses, and Hiton Busan is made up with over 56m² sweet rooms, which are twice the size of most first class hotels. It features staircase rooms, which allows the guests to view the ocean from a spacious exterior terrace.

Since the construction of the hotel and resort began at the beginning of 2015, many officials demanded that we visit the construction site, and the visitors numbers increased as the construction went on. Emerson Pacific, the client for this project, decided to create a space where visitors can overview the construction site and the architectural model, while relaxing and having a cup of coffee. This was the beginning of the Ananti Box House.

After a number of discussions we’ve made the decision to build a structure that symbolizes Busan, the fifth biggest port, yet it is not too big and should be built quickly and easily using the dry construction method. It should be able to come apart, migrate, and reinstalled on various locations, and it should also be made with eco-friendly materials to be recycled afterwards. The terrace, which represents the concept of the resort and the hotel, should also be present on the Ananti Box House, in order to enjoy the ocean and sky prior to the completion of the complex.

To fulfill the complex condition, the decision was made to use fifteen containers, which symbolize the port of Busan. Various directions were applied in order to view the ocean differently. 2.4m (W)×6m (L)×2.5m (H) size containers were stacked up, but were also twisted.

The cantilever structure was calculated to hold wind and weight load, because the Box House is planned to be utilized as a reception area even after the opening of the complex and it needs to be moved three to four times due to the construction process, prefabricated hinges were developed and designed to connect each floors. The resting area, the model display area, the relaxing area to drink coffee or eat snacks, the spacious exterior deck, the kitchen, the restroom, the office space, and the storage spaces are composed in the structures. The attempt was to design a creative visitors’ centre by containing various actions inside the unique structure and form.

In a construction site, there is always a constant battle with time and physical limitations. This also makes a contrast with nature, which remotely stands in front of the passing time. Even as a temporary architecture, Ananti Box House attempts to symbolically deliver the future oriented attitude and the spirit of endless observation for new things of the resort and hotel.