Hiroshima’s Optical Glass House Hides a Secret Garden Behind its Glazed Façade

The Optical Glass House in <a title="Japan’s Optical Glass House Hides A Secret Garden Behind its Glazed Façade" href="http://inhabitat.com/uid-architects-nest-house-is-an-eco-friendly-retreat-for-three-women-in-a-japanese-forest/" target="_blank">Japan</a> takes its name from its unique translucent façade, which shields the home's tranquil courtyard from the surrounding urban environment. Designed by <a title="Japan’s Optical Glass House Hides A Secret Garden Behind its Glazed Façade" href="http://www.nakam.info/" target="_blank">Hiroshi Nakamura &amp; NAP Co. Ltd</a>., this single-family home in downtown <a title="Japan’s Optical Glass House Hides A Secret Garden Behind its Glazed Façade" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima" target="_blank">Hiroshima</a> features a gorgeous secluded patio with a garden and pool, all hidden behind the bricked-glass wall. The translucent wall filters sunlight and provides some privacy, while protecting the house from the noisy street.

The Optical Glass House sits among tall buildings in downtown Hiroshima.

Its glazed façade was hand-made made from 6,000 pure-glass blocks that hide a luscious calm patio behind it.

The sunlight coming from the east refracts through the glass façade and through a super lightweight metal curtain and sliding doors.

Visible from all rooms, the garden offers inhabitants a serene space that is full of pure air and protected from the cars and trams’ noise and pollution.

The interiors are open, airy and uncluttered, with small objects hidden behind a floor-to-ceiling wooden cupboard that functions doubling as a dividing wall.

To realize such a wonderful façade, the bricks were casted in extremely high transparency glass, from borosilicate, a raw material commonly used for optical glass.