Ithaa, which means

mother-of-pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

in Dhivehi, is an undersea

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

located below sea level at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island in Alif Dhaal Atoll in the Republic of

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

Overview

The mostly acrylic structure has a capacity of 14 people and is encased in R-Cast acrylic with a transparent roof offering a 270°

panoramic A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word ...

underwater An underwater environment is a environment of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature (called a Water, body of water), such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some characteristics of the ...

view. The restaurant was designed and constructed by M.J. Murphy Ltd – a design

consultancy A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Con ...

based in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

– and was opened on in April 2005, describing itself as the world's first undersea restaurant. Food served in the restaurant has changed over the years and has more recently been described as contemporary

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an with

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n influences. Ithaa's entrance is a spiral staircase in a

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

at the end of a

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

. The

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

which followed the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

topped at below the staircase entrance, and caused no damage to the restaurant. The restaurant is also used for private parties and weddings. In April 2010, to celebrate Ithaa's 5th anniversary, the restaurant could be booked as an overnight residence. This "underwater suite" promotion continued until April 2011.

Conception

In February 2004, M.J. Murphy Ltd. was approached by Crown Company in the

to make a unique underwater restaurant. The Crown Company, owner of Rangali Island, leases the island to Conrad Maldives Rangali Island (previously known as Hilton Maldives Rangali Island Resort & Spa). Initially Crown envisioned the

restaurant with straight walls and

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

windows. Later they came to favor Mike Murphy's (of M.J. Murphy Ltd.) R-Cast acrylic tunnel, manufactured by Reynolds Polymer Technology, Inc. in the United States. This tunnel was also designed for the

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

National Science Centre, the world's largest aquarium tunnel."Undersea Restaurants"
. M.J. Murphy Ltd. Retrieved on 2012-04-02. Work on technical

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

s and drawings for Ithaa started in March 2004. Murphy initially planned to build the

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

on the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

of Rangali. Once constructed, Ithaa would be winched into the water. Technical challenges, limited resources, and quality control problems in building a structure of 175 tonnes in the Maldives were foreseen. Hence, a decision was made to build Ithaa in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

instead.

Construction

In May 2004, Ithaa's construction began in

. In October 2004, the construction work was completed including the installation of wide acrylic arches,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

and electrical ducts. On November 1, 2004, Ithaa was lifted onto an ocean-going barge to be transported to the Maldives, which took 16 days to arrive. At this point, Ithaa weighed 175 tonnes. On November 19, 2004, Ithaa was "sunk" with the help of 85 tonnes of sand ballast loaded into its belly. It was precisely maneuvered onto four steel piles which had been vibro-hammered into the seabed. It was then secured to the steel piles with concrete. The estimated life span of the restaurant is 20 years, concluding in the mid-2020s.

The hotel

The hotel (which at the time Ithaa was built was still called '' Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa'') occupies two private islands, Rangali and Rangalifinolhu joined by a jetty."Destination Guide"
Conrad Maldives Rangali island. Retrieved on 2012-04-02. It has seven restaurants including the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant."Restaurants and Lounges"
. Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Retrieved on 2012-04-02.

References

{{reflist

External links

from Fun Distraction
Restaurant Review And Photos

News on hospitalitynet.org

Ithaa Menu

MJ Murphy Ltd
– architect and engineer of the restaurant
Hilton Maldives Resort
– ITHAA, The Undersea Restaurant category:2004 establishments in the Maldives category:buildings and structures completed in 2004 category:restaurants established in 2004 category:restaurants in the Maldives category:undersea buildings and structures