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.”

Walk right out onto the surface of the sea or follow a path that takes you into a tranquil space beneath the waves at the ‘Thematic Pavilion,’ a mostly-submerged nautical exhibition space envisioned for South Korea. Daniel Valle Architects intentionally give the structure an uneasy, delicate sense of equilibrium with the water, drawing parallels to the realities many coastal communities could face in the not-so-distant future as sea levels rise. A visitor’s experience changes depending on the state of the water, with paths appearing and disappearing.

The pavilion features subtle raised areas offering clear paths that remain above the surface even when water levels are high and, presumably, when rocked by the wake of a nearby ship. In much the same fashion as a submarine, a water tank keeps the ship-like structure submerged for exhibitions featuring water-based technologies, and raises it above the surface afterward so it can be used like an ordinary boat.

The exhibitions themselves range from the dazzlingly visual, like water shows, to the technical, like hydraulics and cooling systems. “The design aims to raise people’s attention on the ocean and coastal environmental crisis,” say the architects. “The design hopes to provoke the deepest impression to the visitors and prepare them for information and critique on all issues related to the oceans and coastlines. The beauty of scene after visiting the exhibition space and returning to the top plaza will contribute to develop an optimistic conclusion.”

While it seems like a lack of railings could lead some people to walk right off the edge, people in other areas of the world don’t seem to require the same kind of safety hand-holding as Americans, so maybe they’d be fine. The renderings look especially cool after dark, with illuminated water spouts shooting up into the sky. Though the proposal wasn’t chosen for the Expo 2012 in Yeosu, it’s an interesting idea that could provide inspiration to other structures blurring the lines between architecture and ship building.

Slated to cost over $25 billion and take 5 years to complete, this incredible proposal starts a with a living sphere that spans over 1,500 feet below the surface of the ocean.

Designed by the Shimizu Corp’s, the spherical portion of the so-called Ocean Spiral forms a residential and commercial core from which a winding path spirals 9 further miles into the deep, ultimately terminating at the ocean floor.

Occupants would live and work both in triangular neighborhoods along the periphery as well as within a tapering, hourglass-shaped, skyscraper-like segment stretching up from the bottom to the top of the sphere’s center.

The ‘Earth Factory’ portion of the project below is set to use generate eco-friendly energy from temperature differentials and organically-driven chemical conversion processes.

For anyone wondering just when they can expect this marvel to materialize: its would-be creators concede the technology is not quite in place yet to make it a reality, but hope and presume it will be soon.

Mildewed crosses, lonely spires, barely-visible stone foundations and rusting bed frames are all that’s left to show for these 10 intentionally submerged towns and structures from India to Massachusetts. When additional water and power is needed to provide for growing populations, small villages often have to be sacrificed, and while some were demolished before their remains were flooded, others can still be seen as ghostly visions wavering beneath the surface.

Potosi, Venezuela

Another town lost to the creation of a hydroelectric dam, Potosi was abandoned in 1985, its residents relocating and leaving their former homes to be filled with water. For 20 years, all that was visible of the Veneuzuelan town was a single mildewed cross topping a drowned church, but by the year 2010, the waters began to recede and the town slowly reappeared. The gothic church that was once submerged is visible again due to droughts and water shortages, erosion and water damage making it appear much older than it really is.

Steeple Tombstone: Curon Venosta, Italy

A single spire marks the location of an entire town lost beneath Lago di Resia. The alpine village of Curon Venosta was flooded soon after World War II when officials decided to merge three pre-existing lakes into one to create a hydroelectric dam. Before it was inundated, the town – which included 163 houses and nearly 1,300 acres of land planted with fruit – was filled with sand. The bell tower, which was built in the 14th century, was left intact as a memorial, and can be reached on foot in the winter when the lake freezes over.

Vilarinho da Furna, Portugal

In 1972, the creation of a new dam meant the ancient Vilarinho da Furna was lost beneath the water. The Portuguese village, which dates back to Roman times, was home to almost 300 people inhabiting 80 houses before it was submerged; the property still belongs to their descendants, and reappears every now and then when the reservoir levels fall. The community was unique in that it had a communitarian social system with a council called the Junta made up of a single member from each family, a practice dating back to the Visigoths. When the villagers left they took as much as they could, creating their own road to transport things like rocks and roof tiles to their new homes. Some of those rocks were used to build a museum commemorating Vilarinho da Furna, which contains a collection of clothing, agricultural tools, and paintings depicting daily life in the village.

Jal Mahal, Jaipur, India

The Water Palace of Jaipur, India sits in the center of Man Sagar Lake. No one knows exactly when it was built, but it’s believed that the red sandstone structure is at least 300 years old and was constructed before damming created the lake, submerging its lower four stories. When the lake is full, only the top level can be reached, and only by boa. At night, the place is illuminated with floodlights like some kind of hallucinatory ghost structure. The palace was recently restored and is now open to visitors.

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Drowned Towns 10 Underwater Ghost Cities Buildings

What will become of all that humans have created when we’re no longer on the planet to preserve it? This project by artist Evan Holm is both a nod to the grief that the mere thought of losing so much art, architecture, music and other culturally significant creations can incite, and hope for a new beginning. ‘Submerged Turntables’ play music perfectly even when placed underwater, spinning in a black pool.

Watching the record swirl in the water is an eerie sight, powerfully evoking visuals of the monster floods we’ve watched wipe out human settlements in epic disaster movies as well as in real life. The knob to control the record player is built into a branch that hangs over the pool. The video below shows the process of setting up the installation.

“There will be a time when all tracings of human culture will dissolve back into the soil under the slow crush of the unfolding universe,” says Holm. “The pool, black and depthless, represents loss, represents mystery and represents the collective subconscious of the human race. By placing these records underneath the dark and obscure surface of the pool, I am enacting a small moment of remorse towards this loss.”

“In the end however this is an optimistic sculpture, for just after that moment of submergence; tone, melody and ultimately song is pulled back out of the pool, past the veil of the subconscious, out from under the crush of time, and back into a living and breathing realm. When I pe