A perfect home for making an exhibition of yourself

If only there were a well-worn idiom about people living in glass houses. Perhaps "people who live in glass houses... really shouldn't live in glass houses"? Or at least not this one.

A three-storey house in Tokyo by architects Sou Fujimoto is designed to feel like living in a tree but when it comes to privacy even the most generous of Tokyo estate agents would struggle to sell its near-total transparency as a good thing: "Great views, and it's very airy!"

Fujimoto's creation may not be the most practical house, but it's certainly one of the most beautiful – and on so many different levels that it'd be possible to be entertained merely by going to the (non-transparent) loo. Or, as the architects put it: "The house will form a platform for a network-type communication in space."

Since its completion, curtains have been added to make it more private. Whether its owners let kids play football outside is a different matter, though.