Privacy is a handsome deal in the home . That ’s why we have walls and curtain and doors and things . Because after all , you do n’t require even your closest supporter and congenator to see what you ’re up to all the time . Unless you live in Shanghai ’s Vertical Glass House . With glass ceiling and floors , privacyis not its selling full point .
Innovative computer architecture , however , is . First design by Yung Ho Chang as an urban trapping image and an entry in the Japan Architect magazine ’s one-year Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition in 1991 this slim but spacious home puts a twist onthe Modernist melodic theme of foil . Instead of wrapping the building in glass , though , Chang satisfy an almost opaque concrete social system with slab of glass about 3 in - thick . While you ca n’t see into the building , once inside , you could see everything . From the background trading floor , you could see the sky , and the dining way looks down onto the toilet . Which is both incredibly awesome and terribly uncanny .
The Vertical Glass House is n’t quite a complete monolith , though . minor slits in the concrete — which is grating to the soupcon on the outside and smooth on the inside — igniter up at nighttime add together dimension to the building ’s façade . The interior designis likewise minimalistwith one steel situation rebel up the heart and crisscross by more steel beams which divide the space into quarter . Each fourth is suppose to conciliate a different bodily process , and there terminate up being a circle of space for a building with a footprint of just 130 square feet .

So in some means , the building is both incredibly private while remain completely open . Perhaps because of this fascinating apposition , the West Bund Biennale of Architecture and Contemporary Art in Shanghai in conclusion decided to build the Vertical Glass House to become one of its lasting pavilions . It ’s now used to host visiting artists and architects . The visitors just have to check that they ’re comfortable around their travel companions , because once in spite of appearance , they can see everything . [ Dezeen ]
ArchitectureChinaDesign
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture intelligence in your inbox daily .
newsworthiness from the future , deliver to your present .
You May Also Like













![]()
