We’ve seen tree houses that function as oversized sculptures, play structures for kids, sky-high tea houses and elevated retreats for work or meditation, but how many tree house designs actually fulfill dreams of living in the forest canopy full-time? These 12 residential tree houses range from traditional huts built over a hundred feet above the forest floor to a stunning ultramodern cylindrical glass house that envelops an entire tree.

Amazing Cylindrical Glass Treehouse

This ultramodern, all-glass cylindrical house isn’t just in the trees, it contains one. ‘Tree in the House’ by Masov Aibek is a four-story residence in the woods of Almaty City, Kazakhstan with a spiraling staircase leading to each completely transparent level. A few plasterboard walls provide privacy for the bathroom and sleeping areas. The house will be available for rent, and though it may seem like it’s only suitable for exhibitionists, its location deep in the forest makes privacy less of a concern.

Traditional Residential Treehouses of Asia

Papua New Guinea’s Korowai Tribe is just one example of people who have traditionally built their homes in the canopies of trees, some as high as 115 feet off the ground. The houses are typically built in a single sturdy Banyan tree, with poles added for extra support. Each house accommodates as many as a dozen people. Elevated houses can also be found in flood-prone areas of India, Cambodia and other Asian nations.

Finca Bellavista Treehouse Community, Costa Rica

A couple went to Costa Rica in search of a small plot of land and ended up saving 600 acres of rainforest from the chopping block. Uncertain at first what to do with all that acreage, they began to envision a network of tree houses that soon became ‘Finca Bellavista,’ a sustainable treehouse community with individual residences connected by zippiness and suspension bridges. The self-sustaining complex includes a dining hall, open-air lounge, campfire, bath house and ‘wedding garden.’

4Treehouse by Lukas Kos

Looking a bit like a Japanese lantern when it’s illuminated at night, the 4Treehouse by Toronto designer Lukasz Kos is a modern take on the classic wooden tree house with a facade of slats that provide shade and privacy. A semi-detached staircase on casters provides a stable, steady entrance to the home no matter how much the structure itself may be rocking in the wind.

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Only the uppermost portion of this ambitious five-level home is visible when approaching from land, preserving the views for others and making for one dramatic way to live adjacent to the sea. Cliff House by Modscape Concept is a response to the demand in Australia for residences to be built along extreme parcels of rocky land on the coast.

The clients approached Modscape to explore options for a vacation home on the southwest coast of Victoria, where they own a piece of land that could prove a challenge for more conventional architectural solutions.

The architects took inspiration from the way barnacles cling to the hull of a ship, hanging the home off the side of the cliff instead of perching it at the edge. This configuration makes it feel like an extension of the cliff face, opening up incredible views of the water.

The prefabricated, modular house would be anchored to the cliff using engineered steel pins, with entrance through a carport on the top floor.

Sometimes, beautiful views of your surroundings simply trump the need for privacy. Living in a bubble isn’t so bad when you’re in a remote location gazing at the sea or the forest, but some people take it one step further, living in almost entirely transparent spaces even in busy urban locations.

Cylindrical Glass House Containing a Tree

If you’re living in a secluded forest, does it matter whether the walls of your home are entirely transparent? Perhaps you wouldn’t mind if you lived inside ‘Tree in the House,’ a four-story modern treehouse encapsulating a beautiful tree. A white spiral staircase winds around the tree, taking you from one room to the next.

Transparent Floating Vacation Home

The term ‘floating house’ would typically indicate a house boat or other structure on the water, but in this case, it’s all about the visuals. Designed by Jarmund/Vigsnaes Arkitekter, this home features a gabled black upper floor on top of an entirely transparent lower floor so that from a distance, the home appears to be levitating.

Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe

The classic Farnsworth House is one of the most well-known works by architect Mies van der Rohe. Built for Dr. Edith Farnsworth between 1945 and 1951 in Plano, Illinois, the glass home is located on a secluded 10-acre site. The design seeks to unite the occupants with the natural world just outside, using the adjacent trees for shading and privacy.

Glass Cube House by Carlo Santambrogio

These two entirely see-through houses redefine what it means to put your life on display. Italian architecture firm Santambrogio sought the clearest glass to maintain transparency even through a series of walls, built-in shelves and staircases. ‘Snow House,’ the three-story structure pictured, is one of a series of glass houses created by the firm, and this one has glass thick enough to withstand heavy loads of snow. Special glass panels instantly turn matte for privacy at the touch of a button. The single-story version, ‘Cliff House,’ uses thinner, lighter glass elements.

House NA by Sou Fujimoto Architects

Rather than trying to cut individual inhabitants off from their neighbors, as is typical in densely populated settings, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto decided to create a home that would unite them. House NA has an almost entirely transparent street-front facade, and instead of enclosed rooms, the interior is filled with small platforms at various heights for free movement and clear lines of sight.

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Swim to the edge of an infinity pool that feels as if it’s going to pour right out into the sea, or stand on a glass-walled balcony hanging off a cantilevered volume, seeming to hover in mid-air. These dramatic cliffside houses are anchored to stone, but extend out over the landscape for incredible views.

Cliffside Home with Cantilevered Infinity Pool

A sparkling infinity pool juts out over the rocks in this incredible ultramodern Thailand home by Original Vision. Stacked volumes create outdoor spaces that are open to the air, while the entire ocean-facing facade is made up of glass walls, windows and doors to properly appreciate the view.

Light and Reflections in La Jolla, California

Everything about this home in La Jolla forms an echo of the sky and sea, from the glittering glass and reflective pools to the all those curving lines. Architect Wallace Cunningham created organic forms in marble-like white polished concrete and built the house into the hillside so it would feel as if it were a part of the landscape.

X-Shaped Cliffside House

Nearly invisible from the street, this X-shaped residence by Cadaval & Solá Morales is tucked into the cliffside so that the roof is actually a driveway and terrace overlooking Barcelona. Residents descend into the two levels of living spaces below. The incisions at the top and bottom of the ‘X’ let in light while preserving privacy.

Mirage House Blends In With the Aegean Sea

At just the right angle, this home nestled into the hills of Tinos Island in Greece’s Cyclades archipelago seems to disappear altogether, its rooftop infinity pool blending into the Aegean Sea. ‘Mirage House‘ by Kois Associated Architects was envisioned as an “invisible oasis” will all interior spaces tucked into the subterranean rock-sheltered portion of the home.

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A ruined 12th-century castle serves as a stunning historic shell for a contemporary residence in a renovation by Witherford Watson Mann architects. The medieval Astley Castle has been in ruins since the 1970s, when a fire destroyed the hotel that occupied it at the time. Now, it’s preserved as an integral part of a two-story holiday house, the crumbling areas of its sandstone walls filled in with clay brickwork.

The architects blended the new elements of the structure with the old, yet made sure that there is a clear distinction between the two. It’s harmonious, but allows the historic castle to be seen as it was before it was altered. The modern home is nestled within the walls, with the historic bricks still visible throughout the interior.

Extensions added to the castle in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries were topped with a roof and massive skylight, but left open to the elements through the arched windows and doorways to create a sunny courtyard. Laminated wooden beams separate the structure into individual living spaces and bedrooms.

The home features four bedrooms on the ground floor, and a second-floor living room with large windows looking out onto the English countryside. Witherford Watson Mann won a competition held by architectural charity The Landmark Trust to design the home, and their renovation is one of six projects nominated for the prestigious 2013 Stirling Prize.