Former Nendo alum and the present creative director of Japanese retail company Muji, Haruka Misawa has designed the Waterscape Aquarium Exhibit, a series of small architectural and artsy aquariums for fish, turtles and plant life held at his Misawa Design Institute.

Waterscape Aquarium Exhibit

Haruka Misawa creates new landscapes for living organisms that combine the concepts of buoyancy with gravity. In an attempt to control the two opposing forces, ‘floating’ and ‘sinking’, he has designed little environments within the water-filled tanks that are not found in the everyday world. Or in the aquatic world.

Sinking gravel, floating plants and the delicate structures within achieve a stable state in which the water-dwelling creatures can explore.

Materials, tanks and elements:

EXHIBIT PHOTOS

Numerous tabletop tanks displayed on ledges play on the concept of buoyancy and its effect on gravity. Weighted by sand, the tanks feature various architectural elements, textural pieces and tanks within tanks. Viewers were fascinated by the interplay between the living organisms, the inserts and the water.

INDIVIDUAL TANKS

“Underneath the surface of water is a unique environment that exudes an energy [that] is completely opposite from that which is surrounded by air,” Misawa writes in a book about the project. “The inner space of this fish tank is created by combining two simple elements of container and water, with an extraordinary world created that differs from the world with air . . . delicate structures that are prone to damage caused by their own weight on land are able to maintain a stable state because of the relative force of gravity and buoyancy.”

Video for the exhibition:

CREDITS: ART DIRECTION Haruka Misawa (Misawa Design Institute, JAPAN)
MOVIE Masayuki Hayashi
EDITING Michihiro Kuroda
MUSIC Yasuto Yokota

THE BOOK

Waterscape BOOK by Lionart

Created in conjunction with Link Lion.

Purchase the book globally here.

images* and information courtesy of the following:
• The official 2016 Waterscapes Facebook Page
• Misawa Design Institute HP misawa.ndc.co.jp
• Misawa Design Institute Instagram instagram.com/misawadesigninstitute/

* Please note that these photos we may have been cropped, and/ or slightly altered for better visibility, without the consent of the photographer