Kumkang Ananti Golf & Spa Resort / SKM Architects

Curated by Hana Abdel

Architects: SKM Architects
Area: 30232 m²
Year: 2015
Photographs:Kim Yong Kwan
Lead Architect: Ken Sungjin Min
Construction: Emerson pacific Group

Text description provided by the architects. Many countries have their own character and world-renowned natural environments, such as the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Amazon forest in South America, the Sahara Desert in Egypt, and Hangzhou in China. As such, Kumgang Mountain shows the beautiful nature that belongs to our people. Soaring rock cliffs and oddly-shaped peaks, pine trees that have withstood rough climates, abundant waterfalls and the blue East Sea all come together in a composition presenting a grand panoramic view, which one can see in the oriental paintings of our ancestors. The key design issue in

THE ANANTI Resort, Kumgang M.T. was the panoramic view created by the well-preserved natural environment. Instead of designing a resort for a short-term use, the resort was designed to stand comparison to worldwide resorts when the North and South will be unified. The design concept was to preserve the nature, and for the building to be harmonized with the environment. The main design concept was to allow visitors experience the scenery created by Mt. Kumgang and the deep extended East Sea.

Kumkang Ananti Golf & Spa Resort / SKM Architects - Interior Photography, Brick, Beam, Arch — © Kim Yong Kwan

The Master Plan was designed to minimize the damage to the environment and preserve the nature by an adequate level planning, adaptive to the topography of the site. This concept resulted in dividing the site into two levels. The view and privacy was taken into consideration for the occupants’ view of the scenic environment of Mt. Kumgang. Also, in order to preserve the damaged ridge, a sloped roof was planned to smoothly interact without damaging the surrounding environment. All hotels were planned to face towards the Mt. Kumgang, and a skylight was designed on the east side of the Clubhouse and Resort Villa. Sunsets and sunrises can be viewed from both the outside and inside through this skylight, according to the time of day. The Clubhouse, being the core program of the resort, is situated in the center of the site.

The morphology of the Clubhouse communicates with the nature through emphasis of the low and wide-spread horizontal line contrasting the geographical characteristics of Mt. Kumgang. The concrete structure was minimized and a post-and-beam structure built with wood was used to reflect the surrounding context of the mountain. At the same time, the free-curved wood structure was used to create a grand and dynamic space.

In contrast to concrete structures, the wood structure composes the space with lines. The canopy from the exterior is linked to the interior lobby by repeating curves created by glulam arches. Also, free-shaped curves holding the roof structure cannot be created by using either concrete or steel structures, but only with post-and-beam structure; this was designed to create harmony with the surrounding geographical and natural context.