Skip to content
The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐 by Tetsuya Matsumoto

The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐 by Tetsuya Matsumoto is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award 铁奖 in 室内空间与展览设计 Competition Category.


铁室内· 2021

The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐

by Tetsuya Matsumoto

Client: Starlinks.Co.Ltd

A' Design Award 铁奖 Winner in 室内 Category

Colors

Email this page

The Design

About The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐

The Parallel Blue 位于日本最繁华的夜生活场所之一,在东京新宿提供全新的水族馆用餐体验。新餐厅挑战了混凝土丛林中心以海洋为主题的可能性,将简单的接待环境转变为沉浸式空间,晚餐沉浸在水族馆宇宙中。为了创造身临其境的体验,墙壁采用镜子,天花板采用类似的反光铝板,将空间向各个方向扩展,并在周围环境中重现海洋生物。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铁奖

The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐是 A' Design Award 铁奖得主,这是授予满足人们对设计精良的创作所期待的专业与工业要求的优良设计的声望认可。铁奖得主展现出其创作者的高超技艺、高度专业化、专家级的理解力和创造能力。预计The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的创作,既实用又创新。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铁奖的设计整合了行业最佳实践,并拥有与专业知识和才华相结合的称职技术特性。The Parallel Blue 水族馆用餐因其严谨而受到尊重,旨在提供有助于让世界变得更美好的生活品质改善。

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.

Sponsored

Explore Beyond Designers.org

Discover products, services and opportunities from our advertising partners.

Good Design Deserves Great Recognition

Nominate Your Work for the A' Design Award.

Nominate