A beautiful and boldly open design, this see-through structure uses glass to reveal (and staggered layers to conceal) different parts of the everyday lives of its occupants.

Designed by architect Yuusuke Karasawa for a medium-density city lot in Tokyo, the snakelike S House relies on upper layers, underground areas and limited walls to create privacy where required or desired.

The split-level approach replaces corridors with staircases and serves to section off parts of the interior without creating excessive walls, all reinforcing the overall openness of the design (reminiscent of Modernist masters including Mies van der Rohe, Philip Glass and Le Corbusier).

Primarily white, limited wood accents are added and the neighborhood becomes a kind of passive decor, its textures visible from almost any area of the interior.

Partly, the design plays on a cultural element of respect for personal space found in Japan – prying eyes are not something to be worried about.

Nonetheless, the master bedroom and bathroom are located on the level below ground, and a rooftop deck also affords a higher degree of seclusion when needed.

When it comes to tall apartment and condo buildings, the idea of adding more space is almost always out of the question – but what if you could push a balcony outward on demand, rather than adding an entire deck or patio? Here are three designs to expand outdoor space in creative ways.

The Bloomframe is a Dutch architect-designed system that turns a simple set of windows into a spacious exterior extension that can be electronically deployed and retracted – like a convertible top, you can experience the outdoors during nice weather, take out the grill, then close the unit as desired.

An alternative from Fakro works with existing frame sizes on angled roofs, and provides you both a way to lean out (a form of Juliet balcony, with window frame doubling as front rail) as well as overhead shelter from the rain. This system is also simpler and entirely mechanical, so deploying it is as easy as opening a normal glass window.

And for those who already have a deck, but not enough room to put any furniture on it, this space-saving furniture solution (Spaceless) by Sandy Lam is a great source of inspiration: her designs for a table and seat set that fold up for use and hide, camouflaged amid wood decking, when tucked back away.

From the designer: “the average price of residential buildings in downtown Vancouver BC has reached $800 per square foot. Many people have to give up their garden living and move into concrete buildings because of this increase in housing prices. Even though living space is expensive, there is one space rarely used in condo buildings—the balcony. The goal of having “Spaceless” is to use the condo balcony to maximize living space and to improve the building environment by enhancing the functionality of the balcony space.”

Houses can be isolating in both positive and negative senses of the word, but what happens when you break down – or bridge – the gap created by yards and fences between two otherwise-ordinary homes?

An installation project, staged in suburban Vancouver by Reece Terris, explores the impact both on residents and passers by of erecting a stunningly steep semi-circular arch temporarily connecting the decks of two adjacent houses.

“Spanning thirty-seven-feet across and reaching four stories in height” the project used an “engineering technique based on a 12th century Chinese painting …. Access to the bridge was offered twenty-four hours a day to visitors during a six-week period until the bridge was dismantled.” The result drew people in off the street and gave them a new perspective of the surrounding residential landscape – it also pushes the limits of building codes, which implicitly dictate what we traditionally can and cannot do to, on or above our property.