The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium by Tetsuya Matsumoto

The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium by Tetsuya Matsumoto is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award Uʻamea in Mamanu Totonu Competition Category.

UʻameaTotonu· 2021

The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium

by Tetsuya Matsumoto

Client: Starlinks.Co.Ltd

A' Design Award Uʻamea Winner in Totonu Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium

O loʻo i totonu o se tasi o nofoaga sili ona pisi i le po i Iapani, The Parallel Blue e ofoina atu se meaʻai fou i le aquarium i Shinjuku, Tokyo. O le lu'itauina o avanoa e fa'atatau i le sami i totonu o le togavao sima, ua fa'aliliuina ai e le fale'aiga fou le si'osi'omaga fa'afeiloa'i faigofie i se avanoa fa'atofu e fa'asusu ai 'aiga o le afiafi i totonu o le atulaulau o le aquarium. Ina ia fa'atupuina le poto fa'atofu, na fa'amae'a puipui i fa'ata ma le fa'alo i fa'apena alumini fa'afofoga tutusa e fa'aalu ai le avanoa i itu uma ma toe fa'afo'i le ola o le sami i se si'osi'omaga.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Uʻamea

O le A' Design Award Uʻamea na manumalo ai The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium, o se faamaoniga mamalu e tuuina atu i mamanu lelei e faataunuu ai manaʻoga faapolofesa ma pisinisi e faamoemoeina mai galuega ua mamanuina lelei. O ē manumalo i le Uʻamea e faaalia ai le tomai tele, le faapitoa maualuga, le malamalama o tagata poto ma le mafai fatufatuaʻi o ē na faia. E faamoemoeina The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium e avea ma mea ua matuā vivii, mataʻina ma pelepelea e aogā ma fou. O lenei mamanu na manumalo i le A' Design Award Uʻamea e tuufaatasia ai faiga sili o le pisinisi ma e iai uiga faatekonolosi mafai ua fesoʻotaʻi ma le poto ma le taleni. Ona o lona faatuatuaina, e tatau ai The Parallel Blue Mea'ai Aquarium ona faaaloalogia ma ua mamanuina e tuuina mai ai faaleleiga o le olaga e fesoasoani e faia ai e le lalolagi se nofoaga e sili atu ona lelei.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Located in one of the most bustling night life spots in Japan, The Parallel Blue offers a new aquarium dining experience in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Challenging the ocean themed possibilities in the heart of the concrete jungle, the new restaurant turns the simple hospitality environment into an immersive space where dinners are submerged in an aquarium universe. The roles are inversed, the dining room is now surrounded by oceanic sceneries, instead of the classical decorative use of aquariums.
Dimensions & Packaging: Gross Built Area: 94sqm
W12350mm x D8850mm x H2200mm
Tags: Japan, restaurant, aquarium, Tokyo, immersive, narrow, reflection, blue
Production Technology: The restaurant occupies the fourth floor of a mixed-use building. Considering the water tanks heavy weight to be introduced in a relatively old building, the aquariums were positioned exclusively on the top of load bearing beams. Moreover, the aquariums require a maintaining space on the top restricting them from reaching the ceiling. To create the immersive experience, walls were finished in mirrors and the ceiling in reflective aluminum panels expending the space in all directions.
Design Challenge: The biggest challenge was to create an immersive experience in a limited area not exceeding the 100sqm and a ceiling height limited to a crushing 2.2m. the other challenge was to insert heavy water tanks inside a relatively old building not designed to bare heavy loads. The solution was to position the water tanks directly over the beams, and extend the space using reflections on the walls and ceiling.
Research: The hospitality design and the immersive experience design are stepping each one step closer to each other. While this is true and being tested in several digital immersive art forms, it is less common when it comes to non-digital experiences. The creative research that this project was based on was to find out a way to use the smaller aquariums to create immersive environment.
Inspiration: The design for The Parallel Blue is inspired by both the immersive art experiences and the much larger oceanic aquariums attractions. The location of the restaurant in one of the most vibrant nightlife spots in Tokyo, has also had its influence on the space design.
Project Duration: Project start: December 2019.
Construction start: March 2020.
Project/Construction End: June 2020.

Location: Tokyo, Japan.
Operation Flow: The elevator hall on the 4th floor gives on the entrance door, the entrance is made through a small to create more privacy, the first space encountered after are four quarter of circles creating intimate spaces for couple seats. Two other subdivisions of the space are reserved to box sofa seating each with four tables. The smaller space has two tables for two, and two tables for four people. The larger space has two tables for four and two tables for 6 people.
Team Members: Tetsuya Matsumoto
Motoaki Takeuchi
Farid Ziani
Risa Iriyama
Mari Sugiyama
Image Credits: Image #1: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The Parallel Blue, 2020.
Image #2: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The Parallel Blue, 2020.
Image #3: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The Parallel Blue, 2020.
Image #4: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The Parallel Blue, 2020.
Image #5: photographer ©Stirling Elmendorf, The Parallel Blue, 2020.