Red Sea Star
Red Sea Star in Eilat / Israel is a building half of which is below the surface of the Red Sea, has the shape of a star and was originally used as a restaurant, bar and underwater observatory. The system is a typical example of an underwater station close to the coast that can be reached from the surface of the water via a corridor.
description
The system consists of three areas:
- A 70 m long walkway leads from the bank to the overwater entrance area, which housed a lounge, café bar, souvenir shop, lecture hall and kitchen, as well as offices and toilets on an intermediate floor. This module weighs 120 tons.
- A spiral staircase leads to the lower area, which is 20 feet (6 m) below the surface of the water. This area has 62 panoramic windows and served as a restaurant with a capacity of 105 people.
- Below is the ballast area, which is filled with concrete.
Emergence
The system was developed by Josef Kiriati. The structural calculations were carried out by Moshe Dreemer and Dr. Nitai Dreemer performed. In 1995 the individual parts were manufactured in the north of Israel and transported by truck to Eilat, where they were lowered into the water one above the other with a 600-ton crane brought in from Belgium. After welding, the entire construction was dragged over a distance of around two kilometers to the final anchorage point. After about 4000 tons of concrete had been admitted into the ballast area, the structure was anchored with 34 columns, each 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter, through the foundation 15 m deep in the seabed, and then also filled with concrete. The entire structure weighs around 6000 tons and is earthquake-proof. A cathodic corrosion protection system was installed to avoid oxidation .
The ballast area is used for anchoring and as a base that compensates for the slope of the seabed. This module weighed about 200 tons before it was poured with concrete.
The restaurant area weighs around 110 tons. The 62 pressure-resistant panorama windows with thicknesses between 8.5 and 13.5 centimeters and a weight of 12 tons were manufactured in Japan and have additional protective glasses on both sides of the panes. The interior design came from Ayala Serfaty (Aqua Creations) and was based heavily on marine structures, e.g. B. Partitions in the form of corals, stools and lamps in the form of jellyfish and pillars in the form of sea cucumbers. One difficulty in the design was the blue light that shines through the windows into the interior, making the visitors look pale and sick or the food unappetizing. This fact played a major role in the selection of appropriate colors for furniture and lighting. The bottom consisted of sand, which was sealed with transparent synthetic resin, so that the impression of a beach / ocean floor should be created. The ceiling was decorated with 200 elements in the form of pebbles, the technical facilities such as e.g. B. concealed air conditioning pipes.
The area above the water surface consists of two floors and weighs about 120 tons.
By growing corals in the so-called 'nursery' at a depth of 20 meters, which were later used around the underwater area, the underwater landscape, which was previously heavily damaged by water pollution, has regenerated itself after a few years.
Current condition
Around 2012 the restaurant was converted into a strip bar, only to cease operations shortly afterwards for an indefinite period. Since then the facility has not been used.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Homepage of the 'Red Sea Star'. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 18, 2012 .
- ^ A b Edie Cohen: Under the sea . In: Interior Design Magazine . July 1999, p. 142 f .
- ↑ Zora del Buono, Karl J. Spurzem: You up there, we down here . In: MARE magazine . No. 66 . MARE, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 3-936543-56-9 , pp. 104 .
- ^ SA Rogers: Submarine Structures: 7 Wonders of Underwater Architecture. Retrieved September 3, 2016 .
Coordinates: 29 ° 32 '49.8 " N , 34 ° 57' 14.3" E