Transparent S-House leaves little to the imagination

Even in a city that boasts an above-average proportion of quirky homes, Tokyo's S-House, by Japanese architect Yuusuke Karasawa, stands out from the crowd. Not to be confused with that other S House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects we previously reported on, each of this particular home's facades is made from transparent glass.

Completed earlier this year and located near Omiya train station in Saitama, Tokyo, the S-House takes up a physical footprint of 50 sq m (538 sq ft) in a narrow plot surrounded by other houses. The home's unusual – indeed impractical – design is perhaps best understood as an architect's response to our own post-internet era of limited privacy.

"I'm trying to present [S-House] as a prototype of architectural space suitable for the age of the network and information," explains Karasawa (via Google Translate).

Though the occupant would definitely need to be the outgoing type, the master bedroom and bathroom are located in a basement that's sunk a little beneath street level, so aren't quite as subject to prying eyes as its design would suggest.

The rest of the interior, where white is the order of the day, is dominated by several interweaving staircases that must be correctly navigated to gain access to each room on the building's five split levels that spread over two stories, which include a kitchen, guestroom, lounge areas, and rooftop terrace. Indeed, the prospect of trying to work out where the bedroom is after a night on the tiles is enough to make one stick to soda.

Source: Yuusuke Karasawa Architects via Dezeen