Construction of Under, Europe's first underwater restaurant, is progressing steadily. Visitors to the future restaurant do not simply dine out, but rather experience an unprecedented architectural experience. The architecture, the menu and the mission to educate the general public about underwater biodiversity will make Under a special and all-sensory experience. The Norwegian restaurant is scheduled to open in 2019.
The structure, designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, is currently being built on land on a barge a few hundred metres away from the restaurant's final location. At that location, Under will lie five metres below the surface on the seabed. The giant concrete structure will soon be sunk. That sinking and safely anchoring the structure to the seabed are critical moments in the construction project.
The 11 x 4-metre panoramic acrylic window will serve as a sunken periscope. Visitors to the restaurant will thus get a fantastic view of the seabed. The changes in it throughout the seasons and due to changing weather conditions can thus be experienced for themselves. That is something different from the aquarium at the Chinese restaurant around the corner. Indeed, the construction will blend into the underwater environment and form an artificial mussel reef.
For the construction of the underwater restaurant, not only all techniques used on land but also those of the offshore industry were used to make the restaurant water- and weather-proof. The restaurant's ability to withstand large waves that may only occur once every hundred years was also successfully investigated.
