keisuke hatakenaka builds fish farming aquarium doubling as living landscape painting

GAKU poni: a Self-Sustaining Aquarium Ecosystem for Your Home

GAKU poni, designed by Keisuke Hatakenaka Architects Studio, reinterprets aquaponics as an indoor furniture piece. It combines a self-sustaining ecosystem with a design aesthetic that resembles a framed landscape painting. The system integrates fish farming and hydroponics, a method known as aquaponics.

This closed-loop system operates by using microorganisms to break down waste from fish. This waste serves as nourishment for plants, which in turn purify the water before it is returned to the fish tank. This process is designed to balance productivity with environmental sustainability, making it suitable for areas with limited water or soil.

all images by Kenichi Sukegawa

Keisuke Hatakenaka reinterprets aquaponics as a furniture piece

GAKU poni is a compact, vertical unit consisting of an aquarium and plant beds. The design is intended to make the symbiotic relationship between plants and fish a visual element of the living space. The upper section features a shallow, elongated cylindrical aquarium for goldfish, a shape chosen to accommodate the fish’s preference for horizontal movement. Grown fish can be transferred by removing silicone caps on either side of the tank.

Water from the fish tank, containing waste, overflows into the plant beds below. These beds are filled with hydro-balls, which provide a surface for the microorganisms that decompose the waste. The purified water then overflows into a lower water tank and is circulated back to the aquarium by a pump. The unit also includes internally illuminated lighting on the top layer, which functions as both a design element and a light source to promote plant photosynthesis. Keisuke Hatakenaka Architects Studio reinterprets aquaponics as a piece of functional furniture, allowing for a visual appreciation of the natural processes within the system.

the work combines the principles of fish farming and hydroponics

GAKU poni is a self-contained aquaponics unit

the goldfish tank is shaped for the fish’s horizontal movement

details of the pump section

details of the return pipe section

each power cord is inserted into and secured by the grooves carved into the frame

water flows from the fish tank to the plants below

GAKU poni is a piece of furniture that is also a functional ecosystem

diagram of water circulating repeatedly through the aquarium → plant bed → water tank → pump → aquarium

project info:

name: GAKU poni
designer: Keisuke Hatakenaka Architects Studio | @keisukehatakenaka

producer: Yuji Nukui /NUKUI KIKAKU
photographer: Kenichi Sukegawa