Optical Glass House by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP // Hiroshima, Japan.

Yo, yo, yo! Happy New Year, dearest readers. Mama yellowtrace is baaaack! Did you have a nice break (if you had one)? Did you enjoy our last year’s archives? Hope so! Anyway, enough chit-chat, let’s get down to business.

I wanted to kick off this year with a bang and talk about an incredibly beautiful project that literally stopped me in my tacks. The Optical Glass House was designed by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP and it was completed in March 2012. Located on a busy residential street in downtown Hiroshima in Japan, the house features a glittering facade of suspended glass blocks that creates privacy and tranquility on the bustling urban street filled with cars and trams.

The house presents itself to the street with a dynamic 8.6 x 8.6m facade consisting of 6,000 pure glass blocks that reveal and conceal in equal amounts. The facade is designed to provide soundproofing from the outside world, and at he same time allow abundance of natural light into the immediately adjacent interior garden which acts as a transition between the exterior and interior.

Watch this video which captures the experience of being inside this house much better than any still image ever could. It’s absolutely glorious.

[Photograph by Nacasa & Partners, courtesy of Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP.]