We seem to have reached a new era of human civilization in which people marvel over the lack of privacy to be found in a completely transparent glass house while also revealing every last intimate detail of our lives to strangers over the internet. We tend to think of loss of privacy in terms of invasion, but just as often we’re inviting the eyes of strangers in. How are our ideas of privacy evolving, and what does it mean for the housing of the future? Will we live in increasingly closed-off quarters while even more of our details are exposed, or will we embrace a new kind of ‘radical transparency?’

Traditionally, glass houses have been a luxury. Structural glazing isn’t cheap, and if the housing isn’t designed with passive heating and cooling in mind, a whole lot of climate control can be required. The first people known to use glass for windows were wealthy Romans around the first century A.D. (and everyone else still just used oiled cloth or parchment.) In a recent New Yorker humor essay, writer Sarah Hutto plays on the old “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” adage with statements like “those in glass houses shouldn’t have kids. Those in glass houses probably have some kind of special insurance. Those in glass houses – we get it. You’re rich.”

Prior to the mid-20th century, structures made mostly of glass were almost certainly used as greenhouses, orangeries or conservatories, whether freestanding or tacked on to a more conventional building. The Farnsworth House designed and built by Mies van der Rose between 1945 and 1951 was meant for use as a holiday getaway for Edith Farnsworth, M.D., a place where she could play the violin and take in the nature of the setting.

Architect Philip Johnson famously built himself the Glass House, now a historic house museum in New Canaan, Connecticut, for his own use. Since then, glass housing has ranged from luxury homes that are opaque to the street and open to a view to examples that are more sculptural in nature, and not so much for full-time residency, like the Glass Cube House by Carlo Santambrogio.

It’s not like wealthy people aren’t concerned about their privacy. The ability to indulge in a glass house typically has more to do with the luxury of a remote location, where passersby are practically nonexistent (though you don’t often see poorer rural people living in houses made almost entirely of windows.) These houses seem to be built in the hope that their surrounding environments will stay the same, forever – or perhaps the knowledge that if other houses pop up around them, they’ll be able to change the design or raze it and start over.

Intriguingly, glass houses in urban areas are becoming more common, too, perhaps pointing to the genesis of a larger trend. Sou Fujimoto’s House NA may look like some kind of experiment, but it was designed for a young couple in Tokyo as a dramatic contrast to the concrete block homes that surround it, with interior platforms arranged like the branches of a tree. Passersby are an inevitability here. At the snakelike S House by Yuusuke Karasawa, privacy can only be found in upper layers, underground areas and behind limited walls.

But let’s be honest with ourselves: whether we live in one of these places or in a house with no windows at all, does it matter? The arrival of smart devices and the Internet of Things lets hackers peer into our homes with absurd ease. Cameras are everywhere. Facial recognition technology grows increasingly terrifying. Data breaches constantly expose our data. The Cambridge Analytica leak revealed that secretive organizations hold profiles with 5,000 data points on 220 million Americans. What do they know about you?

Perhaps the lesson in all of this is just that we all need to draw a whole lot of curtains, literally and metaphorically. In past decades, George Orwell’s seminal novel 1984 helped cultivate a healthy distrust of surveillance, but the gradual erosion of our privacy in recent years has led more and more people to shrug and go about business as usual. Exactly how all of this will affect the way we live in the near future remains to be seen, but it looks like we’ll find out soon enough.

You know those glass tubes at the bank drive-through that shoot your deposits and withdrawals back and forth between you and the tellers? This house is like living in a cluster of them. Sadly, they’re not full of money, but it’s still pretty cool. ‘Cylinder House’ by lead architect Cyril Lancelin of the firm Town and Concrete is a modular glass residence in Lyon, France that can easily be expanded and rearranged without disturbing the trees around it by adding or subtracting one glass tube at a time.

Set on plinths, the tubes are narrow enough to allow for optimal malleability, conforming to the site. Some are taller than others, and some seem to hover above the landscape. The tubes can be fully open to each other, partially open or closed off altogether for smaller spaces. There are no walls or hallways inside other than the curving glass.

“The furniture marks space, but its movement can reinvent the house,” say the architects. “The plan is not fixed, to follow the evolution of the lives of these occupants. From the outside, the facades undulate… this system of cylinder juxtaposition allows to enlarge the house but also to have a blurred outer delimitation of the house with its context.”

The effect is definitely unusual when viewing the house from outside. As modular designs become more popular, their inventiveness only increases. It’ll be interesting to see how architecture as a whole is affected by the trend in the coming years.

Glass floors give us a glimpse at what’s beneath our feet – whether that’s the historical bones of a building, a swimming pool on the next floor, the city streets or the bottom of a canyon – while freaking us out over the potential of breakage. And yes, sometimes these glass floors really do crack, no matter how ‘unbreakable’ they’re supposed to be, including those situated hundreds of feet above the ground.

2 Glass-Bottomed Bridges in China

You’d better not be afraid of heights if you’re gonna cross this glass-bottomed bridge in China, suspended a stomach-turning 590 feet above ground level in China’s central Hunan Province. Known locally as Haohan Quiao, the bridge features glass panels measuring 24 millimeters thick, which are supposedly 25 times stronger than regular glass. But this isn’t the only such bridge in China. The second is the structure hanging 1350 feet over the bottom of Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon – and this bridge really did crack at one point under an unexpected volume of visitors, forcing its closure. This one is officially the world’s longest glass bridge.

Office in Oslo by Reiulf Ramstad

A 19th century villa gets a modern update by architect Reiulf Ramstad, while this transparent section of floor reveals the old beams hidden beneath the newer materials for a reminder of the building’s history.

Hotel Les Cols Pavellons

You’d never guess that just beyond the traditional-looking 13th century farmhouse at hotel Les Cols Pavellons in the Catalan town of Olot is a series of ultramodern glass pavilions. These ‘zen’ hotel rooms are like crystal cubes housing almost nothing but a bed, a glass table and chairs and a bath for a minimalist experience that’s all about experiencing the design.

Glass-Bottomed Sky Slide in Los Angeles

More than just a glass-bottomed observation deck, which is becoming more common all over the world, this attraction at the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles is a fully functioning slide that chutes guests 45 feet from a window on the 70th story to a terrace on the 69th.

Glass-Bottomed Suspended Pool in Houston

Houston is home to an awesome plexiglass pool that cantilevers 10 feet past the edge of the building, 500 feet above street level. Installed at the new Market Square Tower apartment building by Jackson & Ryan Architects, the skypool offers views of the Houston skyline, and stops passersby in their tracks on the sidewalk below.

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If all walls and opaque surfaces were to disappear, leaving only see-through materials, what effect would that have on how we perceive the world around us? Designers present transparency in all sorts of objects, from washing machines and kayaks to entire houses, as a way to get a clearer picture of how we interact with and connect to our environments and each other.

PurePods: Clear Vacation Homes in New Zealand

Tiny vacation homes in the countryside of New Zealand, these ‘PurePods’ have all-glass floors, walls and ceilings to give guests uninterrupted views of their beautiful surroundings in every room – even the shower.

Clear Acrylic Car

All of the inner workings of a full-sized functional car are on display through a transparent acrylic body on this clear car by TWR Automotive, a company that manufactures auto parts. The car may not actually be road-ready, intended for exhibitions only, but it looks pretty cool and it’s fun to imagine watching the parts in motion.

Glass House Series by Santambrogiomilano

Designed to completely immerse occupants in nature in any location around the world, the glass houses by Santambrogiomilano consist of structural glass on every surface except the ground floor. Different versions are adapted for different climactic conditions, with ‘Snow House’ able to withstand heavy snow loads, for example. Want privacy in one particular room? Sliding curtains make it possible, but the houses are intended for places where peeping toms are not a concern.

Infinity Kitchen

Better hope your kitchen cleaning habits are on point – the ‘Infinity Kitchen’ by Dutch firm MVRDV won’t be forgiving with crumbs and streaks, as it displays everything from your stored food to your flatware and even features a clear cooktop and sink. “I see this as part of a wider dream, this kitchen,” says designer Winy Maas. “Imagine if not only our kitchens were transparent, but the walls through to the neighbor and the next neighbor even. This would create infinite perspectives in our cities. It would make within our claustrophobic environments possibly a view into the direction of the mountains or the sea.”

Transparent Kayaks

Crystal-clear kayaks are actually catching on, with models like the Molokini, Crystal Explorer Kayak and See Through Canoe offering users views of the aquatic life beneath them as they float. Made of Lexan for durability, these transparent vessels start at around $1,000 each.

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Spotlighting the reflective, shimmering and transparent qualities of glass, architecture primarily made up of glazed volumes interacts with its environment in ways that opaque structures simply can’t, whether they’re overlooking the ocean or in the middle of a busy urban square. Their sense of vulnerability is tempered by this feeling of connection, containing their inhabitants without cutting them off from the world.

Japanese School

“I wanted to create a building where it isn’t clear if there are any rules at all,” says architect Junya Ishigami of the disorienting Kanazawa Institute of Technology, comprised of little more than 305 steel columns and a whole lot of glass. The structure reflects the trees at its perimeter, seeming to multiply them, making it feel more like a forest itself than a college classroom. Inside, the steel beams mimic tree trunks.

Russet Residence by Splyce Design

Stacks of glazed boxes jut out from a Vancouver hillside in this modern residence by Splyce Design, stretching out toward the ocean. Some rooms even cantilever from the sides of the house, maximizing the number of interior spaces with an impressive view. All of that frameless glazing helps the home blend in with its surrounding forest environment.

Offices for Junta de Castilla y Leon by Alberto Campo Baeza

How do you make a structure feel simultaneously open and vulnerable, and as secure as a fortress? Build a glass box inside a stone enclosure. Alberto Campo Baeza’s offices for Junta de Castilla y León utilizes sandstone to disguise the very modern building in its historic environment, the walled city of Zamora, Spain. The perimeter walls provide privacy, while the glazed box within soaks up sunlight.

Skyline Residence

The incredible Skyline Residence in Hollywood by Belzberg Architects has its very own drive-in theater on the side of a geometric glazed volume. The entirety of the glass facade opens to the sky on the bottom floor, leading out to a 65-foot hillside infinity pool.

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