Snøhetta has certainly not forgotten its Scandinavian roots — after unveiling a number of smaller projects this year tailored to the Norwegian and Swedish terrain, like a boat tunnel, a treehouse hotel, and a readymade cabin, the architects today presented designs for "Under," Europe's first underwater restaurant located at the southernmost tip of the Norwegian coastline.

Snøhetta describes Under as a concrete periscope that guides up to 100 diners from the rocky tidepools near the entrance down to a champagne bar (marking the transition between the shoreline and Neptune's world) and further down to the restaurant with its large, 11x4-meter panoramic acrylic window gazing out to the seabed.

The volume of the building is simple and the exterior is mostly wrapped in a thick, rugged concrete shell designed to withstand harshest weather conditions and be a welcoming breeding ground for mussels and related marine life.

Whenever the kitchen by Danish chef, Nicolai Ellitsgaard Pedersen, is closed, Under will double as a research center for Norway's 'Lindesnes' marine fauna, so the project statement claims.