So Hot Right Now // Translucent Buildings Made of Glass.

I don’t know about you but the thought of living inside a glass house seems just a little bit daunting. A person’s home is a sanctuary – a place where you can cut loose, be yourself, and… you know, walk around in your undies goddamit. On the other hand, there would be a few benefits to living in a glass house – seemingly endless spaces; no need to paint the walls, hang wallpaper or artwork as surrounding nature would ‘design’ all the interiors. Pretty neat idea, huh?

Glass buildings shimmer in the sunlight, and require no artificial light during the day. They are unbeatable at blurring the lines between indoors and out, welcoming the landscape into lobbies, bedrooms and living rooms.

Sure, some of these examples are pretty out there and over the top, but I always say that – if it wasn’t for those who push boundaries and our preconceived ideas of what a building should and shouldn’t look like, there would be no innovation. For that reason, I take my hat off to all the clever architects who’s work we celebrate today. Enjoy!

GLASS HOUSE BY SANTAMBROGIO MILANO // MILAN, ITALY.

“The woodland house rests on land with the scent of sun and rain. It erects the development of its transparencies till it looks onto the tops of the branches of ancient trees. The house on the sea lives the landscape. It bears witness to the succession of natural phenomena, responsive to their contrasts, reflecting and integrating into its transparencies the anger and peace of the elements.” – Carlo Santambrogio.

Images courtesy of Santambrogio Milano. [ps. These images are computer rendering. Really? That’s insane!)

VERTICAL GLASS HOUSE BY ATELIER FCJZ // SHANGHAI, CHINA.

‘Vertical Glass House’ was designed by Yung Ho Chang as an entry to the annual Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition organised by the Japan Architect magazine in 1991 and now serves as a guest house for visiting architects and artists and as a permanent pavilion. Encased in a concrete wall cast with rough timber on the exterior and smooth wood on the interior, the home lies within an opaque square tube that boldly contradicts the revealing contemporary glass houses.

Images courtesy of Atelier FCJZ.

WATER/ GLASS BY KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES // SHIZUOKA, JAPAN.

Kengo Kuma & associates made an attempt to connect architecture with sea by means of an ‘engawa (veranda)’ of water in their project Water Glass Guest House. Sprawl over an area of 568.89m3 and locates on the site with a great ocean view – a layer of water covers the building edges and stretches further out mirroring the Pacific Ocean and the glass box looks as if it floats, signifying bamboo verandas in Katsura.

Images courtesy of Kengo Kuma & Associates. Photography by Mitsumasa Fujitsuka.

GLASS OFFICE BY AIM ARCHITECTURE // SHANGHAI, CHINA.

An entirely glass and mirrored interior exposes the infrastructure of SOHO’s new office building designed by Shanghai-based studio AIM Architecture. “The glass creates a multitude of reflections of the sales models and meeting rooms, while leaving the original height and structure visible, thus creating a ‘double reality’ that merges with the stunning views of downtown Shanghai.” – AIM Architecture.

Images via courtesy of AIM Architecture. Photography by Jerry Yin.

GREENHOUSE AT GRUNINGEN BOTANICAL GARDEN BY BUEHRER WUEST ARCHITEKTEN // SWITZERLAND.

The design of the new pavilion at the botanical garden at Grueningen was inspired by the surrounding forest, like the membranes of a leaf, to create the geometric structure of the roof. Glass hangs from the steel branches and glass screens subdivide the space to create different planting areas.

Images courtesy of Buehrer Wuest Architekte. Photography by Markus Bertschi.

ZAMORA OFFICES BY ALBERTO CAMPO BAEZA // ZAMORA, SPAIN.

“Within the stone box, a glass box, only glass. Like a greenhouse. With a double facade similar to a Trombe wall. The external skin of the facade is made of glass, each single sheet measuring 600x300x1,2 and all joined together simply with structural silicone and hardly anything else. As if entirely made of air.” – Alberto Campo Baeza

Images courtesy of Alberto Campo Baeza. Photography by Javier Callejas Sevilla, Cortesia de Alberto Campo Baeza.

See our full feature on this project here.

KANAGAWA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP BY JUNYA ISHIGAMI // JAPAN.

Photograph by Jonathan Savoie.

Junya Ishigami and Associates‘ amazing studio and workspace where students of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology get to spend their days designing. The building has floor-to-ceiling glass, meaning you can see directly through the space, through to the other side. 305 columns of various sizes support the stripped roof of skylights, specifically placed to create the sensation of zoned spaces. Inspiring place to design in, wouldn’t you agree?

Images courtesy of Junya Ishigami and Associates. Photography by Iwan Baan.

REFURBISHMENT OF THE OLD BENALÚA STATION AND INSERTION OF CASA MEDITERRANEO HEADQUARTERS BY MANUEL OCAÑA DEL VALLE // BENALÚA, ALICANTE.

“Casa Mediterraneo is a diplomatic institution committed to foster the Mediterranean Villages’ common identity. Its new Headquarters are to be set within the old Benalua railway station, in Alicante, for the institution demanded new spaces where to develop a wide range of events…A Klein-blue, translucent roof filters the incoming sunlight which, after reverberating through a vibrant, circular-patterned alluminium lattice, dyes and excites the old walls and floor, flooding the space and turning it into a sea of blue shadows.” –  Manuel Ocaña del Valle.

In collaborators with Miguel Molins Jiménez, Karolina Kurzak, Adriana Cepeda, Paloma Montoro, María Ortiz-Muyo, BeDV Arquitectos, Yolanda Herranz.

Images courtesy of Manuel Ocaña del Valle. Photography by David Frutos.

MUSASHINO ART UNIVERSITY MUSEUM & LIBRARY BY SOU FUJIMOTO // TOKYO, JAPAN.

This Art University Museum and Library in Tokyo designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has an exterior of timber shelves covered by planes of glass. The exterior cladding is based on glass screen, a 19mm float glass with tinted film which encapsulates the external red cedar skin.“When I thought of the elements which compose an ultimate library, they became books, bookshelves, light and the place.” – Sou Fujimoto.

Images courtesy of Sou Fujimoto. Photography by Daici Ano & Edmund Sumner.

BAROQUE COURT APARTMENTS BY OFIS ARHITEKTI // LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA.

OFIS Arhitekti have transformed three baroque houses in Ljubljana‘s historic centre into an apartment block with a secret courtyard. Behind the glass, rows of arches with stone pillars provide traces of the original architecture, while the street-facing elevations are restored to their original condition.em>”Since the court is very narrow and enclosed from all sides, the main concern was to provide as much light as possible to become a form of internal garden.” – OFIS Arhitekti.

Images courtesy of OFIS Arhitekti. Photography by Tomaz Gregoric and Jan Celeda.

THE GLASS HOUSE BY AR DESIGN STUDIO // WINCHESTER, UK.

The owner’s love of glass fuelled AR Design Studio to construct a beautifully simple sculptural glass staircase and a contemporary glass extension, situated at the rear of the property in the space created by the ‘C’ shape of the building, which would open itself up to the garden. The finished extension is an elegant piece of modern contemporary glass architecture, it creates a flexible inside/outside space allowing sunlight to flood through the home and filter down gradually, creating beautiful shards of light and shadow.

Images courtesy of AR Design Studio. Photography by Martin Gardner.

O’SULLOC TEA HOUSE PAVILIONS BY MASS STUDIES IN JEJU-DO // SOUTH KOREA.

Mass Studies designed the trio of new buildings for the O’Sulloc Tea Museum, an exhibition centre dedicated to the history of Korea’s traditional tea culture, and dotted them along a pathway winding between the main building and the surrounding green tea fields. Large expanses of glazing create floor-to-ceiling windows at both ends of the building, meaning anyone within the tea classroom can look out onto a still pool of water.

“Initially planned as a ‘forest gallery,’ the space was opened to the forest as much as possible, and designing all four walls with glass allows one to enjoy the scenic surroundings from any given spot.” – Mass Studies.

Images courtesy of Mass Studies. Photography by Yong-Kwan Kim.

PUBLIC TOILET BY SOU FUJIMOTO // ICHIHARA, JAPAN.

This glass box lavatory is notably one of the smallest ‘literal public’ spaces, located in Ichihara, Japan. Sited among 200 square feet of lush cherry blossom gardens, providing occupants a serene view while using the facilities. To maintain some semblance of privacy, the garden—which happens to be situated right next to a major railway station—is enclosed by a marginally comforting six-foot wooden fence with a locking door.

Images courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography by Iwan Baan.

ARTIST ROBERT MORRIS EXPLORES HIS CREATION “GLASS LABYRINTH” IN THE SCULPTURE PARK // KANSAS CITY, MO.

At the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s sculpture park in Kansas City, artist Robert Morris unveiled ‘Glass Labyrinth’ is a huge installation that might just have you walking into walls. Fully transparent, the clear structure is made up of 1-inch thick glass.

“In form and material this labyrinth is a departure from the more familiar circular and rectangular labyrinths of old. Triangulated and constructed of glass plate walls capped with bronze, it speaks to the present in the language of modern architecture and design–streamlined, dynamic, transparent, and elegant.” – Museum description.

Images courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum. Photography by Turki Binturki & Brad Mennemeyer.