Glow Home

                                                   Image by Toshiyuki Yano, courtesy of Dwell

Natural light adds a feeling of warmth to a room—now imagine an entire home that’s filled with natural light. Japanese architect Makoto Tanijiri designed a compact three-story home in Hiroshima, Japan, using polycarbonate plastic for the exterior walls and skipping the interior walls altogether so that the light can shine through.

It’s exactly what the homeowner Daisuke Tokuyama wanted for his family of five. The home shines bright—even on cloudy days. In fact, Tokuyama hardly ever needs to turn on a light. And because the one-and-a-half-inch-thick plastic sheets are milky white (not translucent), family members need not worry about being on display for the entire neighborhood—day or night.

This well-designed home is also aesthetically pleasing—glowing like a firefly at night against an urban setting.

View inspired work by The Foundation.