Monday, March 18, 2024

Meet Salmon Eye, a floating exhibition space that resembles a fish eye

Salmon Eye, a floating installation and exhibition space, was recently unveiled in Norway’s Hardangerfjord earlier this month. Designed by Danish architecture firm Kvorning Design, the architecture has been engineered to resemble a fish eye. The architecture aims to educate visitors about sustainable sea farming and protecting the sea and its many wondrous species.

This spectacular floating aquaculture visitor and learning center is located in the Hardangerfjord off Rosendal, Norway – the fifth longest fjord in the world – visited by thousands of tourists every year. The structure uses stainless steel walls shaped like scales to imitate the appearance and color of fish eyes. Salmon Eye weighs 1,256 tonnes, has a diameter of 25 meters, and is divided into four floors, one of which is underwater.

Salmon Eye is covered with 9,500 'fish scales' in stainless steel like silvery salmon skin.
Salmon Eye is covered with 9,500 ‘fish scales’ in stainless steel like silvery salmon skin. Credit: Kvorning Design

The floating architecture and art installation curves for its ellipsoid design, bathed in 9,500 stainless steel shaped like scales to imitate the appearance and color of fish. The shape is a salmon’s eye hence the name. The company says their device is already an iconic seamark mentioned in international specialist media.

The interior boasts 650 square-meter of experience. The design concept of Salmon Eye owes its roots in Kvorning Design in collaboration with Bright Norway (now Creative Technologies). The creation of the floating installation began through Eide Fjordbruk, a long-time salmon producer within the neighborhood.

The floating device strives to help its visitors recognize the ocean as an important food source, inform them on the present and future seafood practices, and overview what the standards of aquaculture in the future would look and be like.