WATERSCAPE

From our previous article that looked at how design was used to best serve chickens’ behaviors, (read at https://art4d.com/2018/05/chicken-house), this text brings to our attention the efforts of a Japanese designer to develop a landscape for aquatic animals in ‘Waterscape : Landscape in the Water,’ an exhibition by Haruka Misawa, the designer of the Nippon Design Center. The exhibition was previously held in Ginza back in 2015, Taipei in 2016 and will now be on view at Sumida Aquarium, Tokyo until the 8th of July. 

Under the glass cube of a familiar fish tank are freeform figures that float or sink within the box depending upon the animals’ behaviors. For example, the middle glass dome is itself designed in a manner that references the fishes’ swimming gestures whether their movements be back and forth in a row or of a more random crossing fashion. The inside of the dome resembles a small greenhouse where the temperature rarely changes. In terms of the turtle’s behavior, an animal that often swims to the surface of the water, the structure inside was designed to be more shell-like referencing an idea of stone steps. The structures are made from several techniques such as 3d printing, die-cutting or glass-blowing and are outfitted with natural resources such as aquatic plants or seaweed used to build a green environment under the water.

At the end of the day, improvement of the design for the animals may not have been the answer that the designer wanted to discover. The challenge for this designer was how to create a new environment in the virtual area of the aquarium in an aesthetically pleasing fashion with materials designed via opportunities provided by the custom-made technology era.