What looks like a post-apocalyptic scene of a building collapsing into the sea is actually Europe’s first underwater restaurant, and it’s officially open for business. Architecture firm Snøhetta has completed “Under,” an eatery set on the southernmost point of the Norwegian coastline, which doubles as a marine research center. Opening to diners on March 20th, “Under” gives visitors views of a unique habitat for sea life from the submerged half of a tilted 34-meter-long (112 feet) monolithic volume.

The rough texture of the building’s concrete shell is designed to act as an artificial reef, inviting kelp, limpets and other sea creatures to take up residence. Snøhetta imagines it as a sunken periscope peering beneath waters that can be brackish and mysterious from above. The restaurant offers a serene contrast to the intense weather conditions of Lindesnes. As you pass from the bright surface down into the dining room, the feel of the space shifts, plunging you into deep blue-greens.

“Under is a natural progression of our experimentation with boundaries, says Snøhetta Founder and Architect, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen. “As a new landmark for Southern Norway, Under proposes unexpected combinations of pronouns and prepositions, and challenges what determines a person’s physical placement in their environment. In this building, you may find yourself under water, over the seabed, between land and sea. This will offer you new perspectives and ways of seeing the world, both beyond and beneath the waterline”.

The name “Under” has a double meaning, since in Norwegian, the word can be translated to “wonder.” Accommodating 30 to 40 diners each night, the restaurant offers menus focused on locally sourced produce and sustainable wildlife along with an educational experience about the biodiversity of the area.

“An equally important part of the project is the building’s facilitation of marine research. The restaurant will welcome interdisciplinary research teams studying marine biology and fish behavior, through cameras and other measurement tools that are installed on and outside the facade of the restaurant. The researchers’ aim is to document the population, behavior and diversity of species that are living around the restaurant, through cameras and live observation. The goal of the research is to collect data that can be programmed into machine learning tools that monitor the population dynamics of key marine species on a regular basis, thereby creating new opportunities to improve official marine resource management.”

Dine underwater in Norway, beneath a ceiling of butterflies in Bangkok, amidst kinetic planetary spheres in Bulgaria or immersed in virtual reality nature in Tokyo with the most stunning modern restaurant designs of 2017. Some people say ambiance is just as integral to the overall enjoyment of a meal as the food itself, and these 14 new restaurant interiors from around the world offer multi-sensory delights ranging from the understated and sophisticated to the wild and unexpected.

The Iron Fairies Underground Bar Full of Butterflies by Ashley Sutton

A curious underground den with three locations in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo, ‘The Iron Fairies’ by Ashley Sutton Design feels like something out of a movie with its dim blacksmith-forge-inspired furniture, hanging bundles of herbs and an incredible ceiling installation covered in 10,000 preserved butterflies. More intimate rooms are located inside old furnaces.

Romola in Madrid by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation

Slotting seamlessly into a midcentury building in Milan, ‘Romola’ by Andrés Jack is a marbled masterpiece in pale greens and pinks, with a stunning geometric ceiling installation complementing the luxurious floors. Triangles of marble dangle overhead, creating a sort of ‘tent’ below the high industrial ceiling with plants hanging between the panels.

Worlds Unleashed And Then Connecting: Interactive Installation in Tokyo by Teamlab

Japanese collective Teamlab created one of their signature interactive experiences inside Tokyo’s Saga Beef Restaurant SAGAYA Ginza with unforgettable results. “When a dish is placed on the table, the scenic world contained with the dish is unleashed, unfolding onto the table and into the surrounding space,” they explain. “For example, a bird painted on a ceramic dish is released from the dish and can perch on the branch of a tree that has been unleashed from a different dish.”

Underwater Restaurant in Norway by Snøhetta

A monolithic structure looks like it has broken off into the ocean after some sort of apocalyptic event, resulting in its glass-fronted facade pointing deep into the water. But it’s no accident. Architecture firm Snøhetta has designed Europe’s first underwater restaurant set along the Norwegian coastline by the village of Båly. ‘Under’ will double as a marine research center, and over time, its concrete shell will encourage mollusks to latch on, creating an artificial mussel reef.

Koi Cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam by Farming Studio

This charming cafe in a three-story Hanoi residence is centered upon an indoor koi pond, with water raining down into it all the way from the top level. Vietnamese design firm Farming Studio used recycled wood from the original site to create a warm and rustic ceiling and custom tables looking out onto the water. The koi tank is a closed-cycle system using waste from the fish in the aquarium to support the lush green roof of the cafe.

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Fine Dining Design 14 Modern Restaurant Interiors With Amazing Ambiance

You’ll have a hard time chewing with your mouth closed as you dine at these incredible jaw-dropping establishments around the world, from a hanging cliffside restaurant in China to a cantilevered overlook at a ski resort in France. Forget minding your manners, because whether you’re at a slightly silly theme restaurant that feels like being dropped into Game of Thrones or an all-white cafe decorated with 10,000 bones, you won’t be able to help gawking at your surroundings. Running these businesses would be a challenge given their immense popularity. So using a paas system in order to build apps that help run the business in a smooth manner is essential. If you are asking yourself what is paas, then you want to investigate further.

Hueso Bone Restaurant, Guadalajara, Mexico

As long as you’re not squeamish about looking at hundreds of bones as you eat, you’ll have an incredible meal at Hueso (‘Bone’), a stylish modern Guadalajara restaurant with a very precise 10,000 bones tucked into every available nook, niche and wall surface. The concept restaurant, located in a 1940s home, features a graphic black-and-white tile exterior inspired by stitching and sewing patterns. The design, by Cadena + Asociados, was “inspired by a Darwinian vision.”

Labassin Waterfall Restaurant, Phillippines

Guests at Villa Esucdero in San Pablo City, the Philippines had better be wearing water-resistant shoes when they take a seat at the Labassin restaurant, where bamboo dining tables await beside a roaring waterfall. Only a few inches of water stream over the artificial waterfall, making it safe to walk right up to it and lean against it if you so desire, so guests often mix their dining experience with water play. The restaurant is attached to a church converted to a museum, and located in an area with some of the richest biodiversity in the world.

Medieval Tavern Brabant, Prague, Czech Republic

You could go to Tavern Brabant for the somewhat silly historical medieval show, or just to gawp at the surroundings and pretend like you’re in Game of Thrones. You pay a flat fee to enter, watch the show, feast on all you can eat, and enjoy two large drinks. It’s located along Prague’s Royal Way in Old Town and features (presumably) fake skulls set into the stone walls.

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Rangali Island, Maldives

The world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant sits 16 feet beneath the surface of the sea just off Maldives, offering a 270-degree view of a coral reef. Expect to pay at least $120 for lunch as a hotel guest – and you’d better have a reservation. The restaurant is accessed via a spiral staircase descending from a pavilion at the end of a jetty.

Restaurant in the Sky

The traveling ‘Dinner in the Sky‘ restaurant brings a 29-foot table seating 22 people to stunning locations all over the world, suspending diners hundreds of feet above the ground. Dangling from a crane, the table is entirely open-air, so you’d better not be afraid of heights. Dinner packages typically start at around $300 per person. The company also offers special packages like ‘Party in the Sky,’ ‘Wedding in the Sky’ and ‘Meeting in the Sky,’ if you’re so inclined.

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16 Jaw Dropping Restaurants

Why spend your time in any old hole-in-the-wall cafe when you could be surrounded by eye-popping, eccentric and beautiful design? These 13 unusual cafes from Poland to Australia defy expectations with strange sculptural installations, shocking colors and prints, brilliant flooring solutions and other quirky visuals.

Das Neue Kubitscheck, Munich, Germany

(images via: dezeen)

The owners of Das Neue Kubitscheck in Munich are really serious about one thing: no doilies! The self-described ‘punk’ Armin Stegbauer revamped a 1950s patisserie into an elegant and contemporary cafe with fun details like a sculptural installation of ‘cake boxes’ in a corner. With a rallying cry of “F#$%! the cake mix”, Stebgauer made the cafe multifaceted and dynamic – without a doily, that common decorative item in cafes of old, in sight.

St. George Lycabettus Cafe, Kolonaki, Greece

(images via: designshoot)

Ribbons of white form continuous bands across the surface of the St. George Lycabettus Cafe in Greece, extending from the wall, over the tables and onto the floor. Contrasting with dark gray marble, the white surfaces draw the eye along the entire space.The cafe is located inside the St. George Lycabettus Hotel, among the best lodgings in Athens.

MS Cafe, Muzeum Sztuki, Poland

(images via: dezeen)

A faceted wooden bar forms the focal point of a modern cafe on the ground floor of the Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz, Poland. Made of wooden triangles, the bar also features panels of translucent plexiglass that are back-lit for a glowing effect. The cafe also features mobile wooden booths on wheels.

East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton, UK

(images via: contemporist)

The East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton, England certainly stands out among the more traditional buildings of the area. Winner of a number of architectural prizes including the Royal Institute of British Architects regional prize, the cafe has an unusual design made up of stacked organic shapes in rust-colored steel. Architect Thomas Heatherwick wanted the structure to fit the “raw beauty” of its surroundings without being too literal with ocean-inspired themes. The cafe has reportedly had a “Guggenheim effect” on the town (referencing, of course, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain) drawing in tourists and gaining worldwide attention.

Cardboard Cafe by B3 Designers

(images via: core77)

An incredible 8,000 cardboard boxes were used to create this ‘cardboard cafe’ by interior architects B3 Designers. Made for the London Design Festival in 2008, the cardboard cafe occupied the architects’ East London Studio, temporarily turning it into a bar. The boxes were painted and stacked to resemble bricks, and guests were encouraged to wear cardboard clothing.

Robo Cafe, Osaka, Japan

(images via: 3yen, gizmag)

Don’t wait around for a human server at the Robo Cafe in Osaka, Japan – there are none. Instead, you have to place your order with the adorable miniature robots that run the place. When you’re done eating, a robot will even come out and clean your table. While at the cafe you can even purchase a robot to take home.

D’espresso Cafe, New York City

(images via: contemporist)

When you walk into the D’espresso Cafe in New York City, you might find yourself a little overwhelmed at first: did you just enter a sideways library? What’s going on here? It takes a moment to realize that the effect of books on shelves, lining the ceiling and floors rather than the walls, is created using giant sepia-toned images printed on custom tiles. The ‘pendant lights’ are even installed ‘sideways’ to encourage the illusion. This unusual design, creative yet quite simple in its execution, gives the D’espresso a one-of-a-kind atmosphere.

The Purple Cafe by Jan Schriener

(images via: freshome)

The fittingly named Purple Cafe is, unfortunately, not a real place – at least, not yet. This concept design by Jan Schriener imagines a restaurant in virtually all shades of purple from lilac to eggplant, contrasting soft, relaxing design details like an installation of branches with bright, geometric lighting and art.

Design Bar by Jonas Wagell, Stockholm Furniture Fair

(images via: dezeen)

The Stockholm Furniture Fair was transformed into a cartoonish wonderland with giant balloons and colored paper. Swedish designer Jonas Wagell created the Design Bar installation in two sections, ‘the forest’ and ‘the industry’, the latter represented by black ‘clouds’ and smokestacks. “I want to use small means and simple materials to create an environment with grand expressions and strong character. Trade fairs are temporary structures, hastily erected only to be torn down within days. Instead of building an environment that tries to be something more than this, I see an exciting challenge in embracing the temporary and creating a spatial presence with a glance at stage design and graphics, rather than glamorous, polished architecture,” Wagell said.

Brother Baba Budan, Melbourne, Australia

(images via: simon food favorites)

Brother Baba Budan is not just a Melbourne favorite because of its coffee, reputed to be among the best in the city. It’s also notable for its fun and slightly chaotic décor, which includes an installation of wooden chairs hanging from the ceiling. It’s certainly a simple, inexpensive yet unforgettable way to make your cafe internationally known.

Cafe/day by Suppose Design Office, Shizuoka, Japan

(images via: dezeen)

Giving the impression of a building shell placed lightly upon a pre-existing parking lot, Cafe/day by Suppose Design Office continues the exterior asphalt floor into the interior, traffic markings and all. Located in Shizuoka, Japan, the cafe features benches modeled on bus stop seating and chairs made of recycled car seats. With its large glass walls and unusual flooring solution, Cafe/day extends this casual space of relaxation out into the urban environment.

Hatched by Outofstock, Singapore

(images via: dezeen)

Egg-shaped windows dot the wooden walls at Hatched, a Singapore cafe by design collective Outofstock. Located in an old dormitory next to a university campus, Hatched is a casual restaurant serving breakfast all day, and it communicates this hominess with warm, welcoming wood and aged brick.

Cafe Vue by Elenberg Fraser, Melbourne

(images via: weheart.co.uk)

It’s not just the juxtaposition of patterned stone bench tops and timber floors against stark white walls that make Melbourne’s Cafe Vue stand out. Rather, it’s the strangely sculptural details dreamed up by designer Elenberg Fraser, like the white cage-like structure that surrounds one of the tables, and the guillotine-shaped light that hangs above it. The design is a modern twist on the aesthetics of the Versailles Palace and Marie Antoinette.