BOUTIQUE, C'EST CHIC! - Hotel V

says. “I am promoting it as a house with 12
bedrooms that happens to offer the service of a
five star hotel. You can rent a room, or lease the
whole house. You can also be there as a famous
person, unrecognized and understated.
“The renovation was of a building from the
16th Century. It sits in a Moorish village, the
southern-most Pueblo Blanco in Spain. From the
top of the hotel you can see the Atlas Mountains
of Morocco, yet you are in the middle of this
absolutely charming Spanish village.
“The designs I created mix modern
elements with the old architecture. It is
very contemporary, with open bathrooms
that contrast with the stone columns in the
courtyard: A mixture of wood stone, metal and
glass. Again, elegant and clean. When someone
comes to visit, they relax immediately.”
“I have designed it as a
‘village by the sea’ with
a major emphasis on the
balance between interior
and exterior space and
landscaping.”
V… Vejer opened its doors on February 22,
and has already been vaunted as a design icon.
“It is not too trendy, though. Because that can
get old very quickly,” adds van Gysel. “I used
the Spanish interiors company Porcelanosa
for the flooring and bathroom fittings and
chose reclaimed colonial antiques from the
Goan jungle to make sure that wasn’t the
case.” In combination, van Gysel’s designs
and Porcelanosa’s materials have created a
genuine retreat (see the end of this article for
contact details).
Happy but not completely fulfilled by just one
iteration of his ideas about the future of luxury
accommodation, van Gysel began looking for
further projects that would appeal to the
wealthy international traveller. The result is
the V… brand.
The concept is simple. He takes all of the
elements that suit the modern voyager – the
super-exclusivity; the infinite services; the
fabulous transport; the ultra-modern spa and
the ultra-fine dining – and packages them
into a single, five star hotel and a single,
extraordinary location.
The first hotel in the Middle East ‘V…
Greece On The World’, a 484,882sqft island
off the waters of the Dubai coast on Nakheel’s
remarkable development, The World.
“This project is inspired by light and
water,” says van Gysel. “I have designed it
as a ‘village by the sea’ with a major emphasis
on the balance between interior and exterior
space and landscaping. It offers pure and
simplistic comfort while providing the ultimate
in luxury.”
V… On The World has 65 living spaces
overlooking ocean, waterways and lavishly
landscaped gardens. You arrive at a 100 metrelong
wooden marina and enter via a giant,
freestanding, glass reception through to the main
square – the focal point for the island. Wooden
walkways lead you to villas, lofts and suites
of simple, contemporary architectural form,
enriched by the water and light that is being
guided to divide and penetrate the complex.
“It goes along with the feeling that one has
when entering V… Vejer in Spain. I want to
recreate that feeling in the UAE. That I feel
at peace. That I don’t want five or six or seven
people coming to see me every few minutes
when I am trying to eat a meal. Not everyone
wants that experience. It is that subtle attention
to detail. Our clients’ lives are about being
subtle - whether you are negotiating a business
transaction or in your personal life.”
V… On The World has been designed by
Architetti Associatti, a group of young Italian
designers that specialize in handcrafted materials
and forms in the tradiziona moderna style. A
basic translation would be that traditional form
follows modern function.
In this case, the function is the ultimate
leisure experience of the lucky 65 people that
buy these spaces and use them for up to 60
days a year. The properties are then leased out
as part of the hotel for the rest of the year,
allowing further guests to be lavishly saturated
in water and light.
The upper floor of the dramatic glass
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E X C E L L E N C Y Q U A R T E R L Y E X C E L L E N C Y Q U A R T E R L Y