Beautiful Transparent Garden House in Tokyo Can’t Leave Nature Outside

If you have a nice, private plot of land that also happens to be covered in flora, why hide it all with opaque walls<a href="http://inhabitat.com/bubbletree-clear-prefab-bubble-tents-for-romantic-exhibitionism-in-the-wild/"></a>? That's the thinking behind this small home cum office designed by <a href="http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/16011/kochi-architects-studio-garden-house.html">Kochi Architects</a> for just such a site in Tokyo. The house, which is made up of two cubes touching corners, takes up 20% of the 450 meter square property, but its exterior glass walls create the sensation that there is hardly a building there at all.

This home only takes up 20% of a 450 square meter plot in Tokyo.

But the owners couldn't leave nature outside

So they invited her in via transparent glass walls

Blinds diffuse the harsher sunlight

And natural ventilation comes from a nifty circulation box inserted between the two cubes

Wood wool and insulating glass help further the building's energy efficiency

Such a great, simple design that makes it seem there is hardly a house there at all.