Aquarium House / NAO IWANARI Architecture

Text description provided by the architects. Looking at the aquarium that reproduces the inside of the sea through the glass, wide-open areas, shades of rocks and plants, cave-like holes, etc. Places with various properties are mixed in an unseparated space. It opens towards the surface of the water at the top and brightens, the fish come and go on each level while performing activities suitable for the place.

An urban dwelling that requires multiple layers to be established. If we can develop such a space as underwater, I thought it would be possible to create a spacious place to live without feeling cramped.

When you put yourself inside the actual building, it looks like underwater Spaces in each layer with different properties are connected without breaks, when I was invited by the light that shines from the top to the bottom and went up, it reaches a semi-external space surrounded by walls on all four sides and only the upper part is open.

The upper end of the wall opened above it is like the surface of the water looking up from the water. Feel like you are in the most open zone. It is a residential building that gets closer to the outside as it gets farther from the ground.