Kinosaki Marine World's fish displays area "SeaZoo" to reopen on July 25th | NOMURA was responsible for displays concept, displays planning and concept design, aquarium design, and construction

The fish displays area "SeaZoo" at Kinosaki Marine World in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, will celebrate its 30th anniversary and will be partially renovated on July 25, 2024. The concept of the newly completed displays "CUBE" at "SeaZoo" is "Towards an aquarium with more conversation." The aim is to create a new displays style that encourages curiosity, new discoveries, and free thinking through conversations with creatures and keepers, 20 cube-shaped aquariums, illustrations, and graphic boards, and encourages learning together.
Our company was involved from the planning stage of displays concept, and was responsible for everything from displays planning and concept design, graphics and video, aquarium design, and displays and aquarium construction. We have been involved in Hiyoriyama Kanko's aquarium business as a spatial production partner for about 30 years, and have been in charge of the experience space DIVE (2006) and Hiyoriyama Kaigan Museum (2019) at the current Kinosaki Marine World.

Animals and keepers take center stage: Communication-oriented displays that encourage conversation with visitors
We place importance on real conversations between visitors and between visitors and zookeepers, and we make efforts to ensure that visitors can learn on their own and become more interested in the creatures.
The role of the zookeepers is to connect the creatures with the visitors. For example, they encourage interest and deeper knowledge by talking to visitors about the moving experiences they have had learning from the creatures and nurturing them, and by answering their questions directly. In addition, communication boards with the zookeepers' words and illustrations have been set up around the aquarium tanks. In order to make use of the zookeepers' personalities and thoughts and to create a sense of familiarity, each zookeeper writes down their own observations and what they want to communicate in their own words, without standardizing the expressions.

Highlights of displays

Spatial concept design incorporating museum displays techniques
At "CUBE," 20 cube-shaped aquariums are placed in front of the exhibit, and each displays features a unique creature. The exhibit is concept design to focus on the aquarium itself, allowing visitors to enjoy the exhibit through conversation and focus, just like in a museum. Each aquarium is displays in a way that closely resembles its natural habitat, allowing visitors to see the creatures in vivid detail, as well as the dramas and stories that emerge from them.

About the breeding project
The program also presents an academic story about the challenges faced by the breeders in the breeding and raising of corals and snow crabs, a process that is said to take about 10 years.

About Hiyoriyama Coast
The zoo is home to a Blue Carbon Project to protect the ocean off Hiyoriyama Coast, as well as a reproduction of the local "Tayui Wetlands," which are registered under the Ramsar Convention, along with the creatures that live there. Visitors can learn about the local marine life and environment while also feeling the passion of the zookeepers.
 

Project Contact
Based on the concept of "Becoming an aquarium with more conversation," this is a new style of displays in which the keepers "talk" about the things they learn and are moved by through their daily interactions with the creatures. We hope that visitors will enjoy the questions that arise from observing the creatures, and the surprise and joy they feel when they make a discovery, through the 20 cubes newly installed in the renovation.