Optimal lighting improves fish welfare and results in a better feed conversion ratio lowering maturation rate. It also protects fish from sea lice infestation. Signify offers Philips Aquaculture LED lighting products that ScaleAQ will resell with an initial focus on marine-based/seacage products. Leveraging 125 years of Signify’s lighting experience in innovation, technology and equipment, the partnership provides customer-tailored sustainable solutions to the Aquaculture industry with a focus on quality, efficiency, service and being future proof.

Bill Bien, Head of Agricultural Lighting Business, Signify said: “The aquaculture industry is growing rapidly and needs partnerships like this to meet the increasing need for local presence and support, at the same time using R&D resources to develop solutions for the future. Our focus on lighting recipes, IoT and data insights play a crucial role in optimizing agricultural businesses in the future, helping us to create custom solutions together with ScaleAQ that are solid growth platforms for fish farmers.”

Per Ivar Lund, Head of Business Development, ScaleAQ said: “We are very pleased to be partnering with Signify on aquaculture lighting systems. As a global partner and advisor to the aquaculture industry, it’s important for us to be able to offer a wide variety of products and the Philips lights will be an important addition for both our sea-based and future land-based efforts. We believe the industry will also benefit from our collaboration on servicing the lights. ScaleAQ will now be able to provide its customers with service on the Philips lights from its many local offices around the world.”

Like a ‘sunken periscope’, the restaurant’s massive acrylic windows offer a view of the seabed as it changes throughout the seasons and varying weather conditions.

Environmental Considerations

Under has been designed with sensitive consideration for its geographic context and aquatic neighbours. The sleek, streamlined form of the building is encapsulated in a concrete shell with a coarse surface that invites mussels to cling on. Over time, as the mollusk community densifies, the submerged monolith will become an artificial mussel reef that functions dually to rinse the sea and naturally attract more marine life to its purified waters. Muted lighting from the inside of the restaurant and installed on the seabed will help stage the wildlife flourishing on the sandbank outside the 11 x 4-metre panoramic acrylic window.

The restaurant will also welcome interdisciplinary research teams studying marine biology and fish behaviour. Researchers from Norwegian research centers will among other seek to train wild fish with sound signals and will research whether fish behave differently throughout the shifting seasons. The researchers will also help create optimise conditions on the seabed so that fish and shellfish can thrive in proximity to the restaurant.

Visitor Experience

Informational plaques will be mounted alongside the trail leading guests to the restaurant entrance at the water’s edge. This informational path tells a story about marine biodiversity and the Norwegian coast, weaving the narrative of the site into the overall restaurant experience, and ends at a ramp up to the restaurant. Here, the entrance is clad in untreated, locally sourced oak that will eventually fade into grayish tones, harmonising with the raw concrete. On a day of rough sea, you can feel a hint of fresh, salty ocean spray against your face as you enter the restaurant.

The building comfortably accommodates 80-100 guests. As visitors begin their journey through the restaurant they descend through three levels. From the entrance, where the tidepool is swallowed by the sea, guests enter the wardrobe area. Visitors are then ushered down one level to the champagne bar, which marks the transition between the shoreline and the ocean. This physical transformation is emphasised by a narrow acrylic window cutting vertically down through the restaurant levels. From the bar, guests can also look down at the seabed level of the restaurant, where two long dining tables and several smaller tables are placed in front of the large panoramic window.

Materiality

The restaurant’s colour palette follows the logic of the different stories of the construction. While the champagne bar is characterised by colours inspired by the coastal zone, with its subdued colours evoking the sediment of shells, rocks and sand, the dining room is submerged in darker blue and green colours inspired by the seabed, seaweed and rough sea. The warm oak of the restaurant interior contrasts with the rough concrete shell, creating an intimate atmosphere. Materials are chosen not only for their aesthetic qualities, but also for their sustainable characteristics and ability to create a good indoor climate. Advanced heating pump technology that utilises the stable seabed temperature functions to heat and cool the building year-round.

Through its architecture, menu and mission of informing the public about the biodiversity of the sea, Under will provide an under-water experience inspiring a sense of awe and delight, activating all the senses – both physical and intellectual.