AOAO SAPPORO
AOAO SAPPORO — Urban Aquarium / Multisensory Branding
Background
AOAO SAPPORO is an urban aquarium located in the center of Sapporo.
Beginning approximately two years before its opening, we initiated Kansei workshops to integrate experiential branding into the project, collaborating with a wide range of specialist partners to introduce a multisensory spatial design approach throughout the facility.
Within the city, the space invites visitors to quiet their senses and listen closely to the presence of living creatures.
Rather than simply observing living creatures, AOAO SAPPORO was designed as an environment where people can share time and rhythm with living beings, forming a quiet and emotional dialogue.
Research — Articulating the Emotional Value of the Aquarium
Through a series of Kansei workshops using art and embodied expression, we translated the founding members’ still-unformed intuitions and sensory impressions into language.
Across multiple workshops, we structured the emotional values the aquarium should embody — including intimacy with living creatures, quietness, and immersion — and developed multisensory concept designs for each floor based on these values.
Design — Connecting Multisensory Experiences with Shared Brand Values
Three original fragrances were developed and introduced into different areas of the aquarium, each aligned with the experiential concept of its respective floor.
Because the facility is operated by teams with entirely different roles — including management, planning, animal care, and operations — we also developed a multisensory brand book to establish a shared understanding of the brand values across departments.
Using KANSEI Design’s original methodology, the brand book was created through a series of non-verbal workshops designed to carefully extract the emotions, sensations, and values existing within the organization, and weave them into a unified brand world.
The language throughout the book was developed from words and expressions gathered directly from the internal branding members, allowing each individual to personally connect with the story of the brand.
Output — Extending the Aquarium Experience Through Memory
To allow visitors to take home the memory of their experience, the original fragrances used throughout the aquarium were also developed into retail products and made available at the gift shop.
Rather than functioning solely as spatial scent design, the fragrances act as a “medium of memory,” reconnecting visitors with the emotions and atmosphere they experienced within the space.
To communicate the difficult-to-describe experience of fragrance and aromachology, we also developed a dedicated aromachology website.
Through a communication design using interactive cards and storytelling, the messages embedded within each fragrance can be shared and understood with greater emotional clarity and depth.
In addition, artists from NEKIRIKI Production — the art division of the KANSEI Group — participated in the planning and production of scent-based art events within the aquarium.
As fragrance and artistic expression intertwine, the aquarium transforms from a place that simply displays living creatures into a space where people can sensorially reconnect with nature itself.
What we did
- Multisensory branding strategy
- Multisensory spatial concept design
- Original fragrance development
- Spatial aroma implementation
- Multisensory brand book development
- Original aroma product planning and production
- Multisensory guidelines and website development
- Planning and production of art events