Glass houses have been around for a long time, yet, they are still rare enough that when you see one, you can’t help but be awestruck. Architects have come up with some pretty incredible ideas for glass houses and every one is so different from the next, and equally as beautiful and intriguing. Take a look at 20 of the most gorgeous glass house designs.

20. German glass house

This is a very simple and understated glass home, that due to its simplicity, makes it even more dramatic. The rectangular shaped house appears almost cubicle inside, with divisions of living quarters. You can see how the spaces are divided up inside with the eating area separated from the sitting area by a partial partition wall. Although not everything is made of glass; the floor, ceiling and roof are made of different materials, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows give you unobstructed views of the immaculate yard around the home.

19. Stuttgart Germany glass home

Another glass home in Germany, this one is located in Stuttgart and is a modern home that stands four-stories tall and is totally sustainable. It was built to be completely recyclable, and puts out zero emissions and zero carbon. Some of its sustainable features include, photovoltaic panels that power the house and provide light for the home after sundown. It also features geothermal energy and cooling. The triple-glazed windows give the home all the natural light it needs to light up every room inside. It is one of the most innovative, sustainable homes built today, including the fact that this modern modular home was designed for easy assembly and dismantling.

18. Uniquely shaped glass house in Switzerland

This house is not only in a beautiful country, but the home itself, is so unique that it is a glass house masterpiece. Designed by Italian architect, Jacopo Mascheroni, it is gently curved and is a polygonal shaped glass house that sits on a sloped hill in Lac Lugano in Switzerland. The home was designed on two levels due to the topography at the site. On the upper level you will find the living and dining rooms, thee kitchen, as well as storage spaces. On the lower levels, you’ll find the bedrooms, bathrooms and garage. There are two separate views you get from the home, including the view of the mountain, while the second view is that of the garden that overlooks the lake. No matter where you look out of the home, there is a gorgeous, unobstructed view through the glass windows that give you endless amounts of natural light throughout the home. This house is a beautiful example of modern glass homes.

17. Bart Knaggs Fishing getaway glass house

Bart Knaggs is fifty years old and had dreamt of a weekend home on Lake Llano outside of Austin, Texas where he’d grown up fishing. He is an entertainment and hospitality entrepreneur who, for one, is responsible for founding the Austin City Limits Music Festival. He is also co-owner of a number of popular hotels and restaurants. When he finally locked in on 47-acres of waterfront property, a fish camp was put up, basic and purpose serving. But in 2014, Knaggs and his wife Barbara built their dream home, a glass box that overlooks the lake. It is elegant and in perfect harmony with all that nature has to offer around them. This is the only home like it for miles and although it looks super-modern, it is described as all you feel is the space around you – it is so open and airy. They are thoroughly enjoying the relaxation they get from the home and as avid as a fisherman as he was, he says now he doesn’t think about fishing as much, but just enjoying the home. Michael Hsu is the architect who was enlisted to help pull of this beautiful design and, yes, it worked.

16. Leonardo Glass Cube

Located in Bad Driburg, Germany, this incredible example of a glass house was designed by 3Deluxe and was constructed for the Glaskoch Corp. The construction was completed in May of 2007 and although it is primarily used as a place of corporate meetings and hospitality, it could be transformed into a living space. The building features glass panels that are high-frame, measuring six-metres high and are fitted with disc springs that help reduce stress and tension fro the pressure of the wind.

15. Hartford Glass house

This historic glass house was built between 1949-1995 by the architect Philip Johnson. It is a National Trust Historic site located in New Canaan, Connecticut and is an architectural monument to modernism that now offers tours for other architects to appreciate, along with the public. It sits on 40 acres of beautiful landscape and is dotted with other structures built afterwards. You will enjoy the architectural features of the open floor plan, the beautiful views of the landscape and the art that this home features.

14. Mountain side glass house

This glass house has been named Colorado Mountain house and was designed as a glass house concept. There is 7066 square meters of floor space that are encompassed with floor to ceiling glass walls that give you beautiful views all around, and from the street, this illuminous structure is exquisite. Inside, you’ll find exotic wood, stainless steel, and natural stone for a contemporary style of living. Other features include, indoor salt water pool, wine cellar, digital home theatre, a library and much more. The home was designed by Colorado Mountain Site 7 Solutions and is a magnificent example of glass home living.

13. Rieteiland Amsterdam glass house

Designede by architect, Hans van Heeswijk, the house was built for himself and is located on the island of IJburg. It is a three-story glass house that faces out of the water and features a large ground floor with the dining room situated there, along with three bedrooms. The living room is on the first floor, and a staircase runs through the core of the home through the entire height of the building to get to storage closets. It was also designed with bathrooms on all the floors and you have a dumbwaiter for moving things easily from floor-to-floor. You get only the best features when you are the architect of your own home, and it is one of the most unique glass homes anywhere.

12. Long Island glass house

Thomas Roszak designed this modern glass home made of steel and glass and sits on Chicago’s North Shore. Rosszak designed the house for his own family and the openness of this beautiful glass house reflects the beautiful landscape and natural beauty all around. The large swimming pool on one side of the house is another breathtaking view you get from throughout the home. Upstairs is where you will find the bedrooms, while downstairs is the main sitting areas and living space. You will feel like you are one with nature when you are in this house with limitations in views.

11. Steve Herman’s Glass House

Wow! What a stunning example of modern architecture in this extravagant glass house. This contemporary style home is constructed of concrete and glass and is an open-white stunning home that features open views of a spectacular yard of oak and fern Montecito landscape. What is not pictured, is the garage below that houses expensive, luxury automobiles, such as a pair of Ferraris and a classic Mercedes gullwing. The floor plan is uniquely designed to spend your time relaxing and visiting in the main living room while taking in the spectacular views through all of the floor to ceiling windows.

10. Paradise Cove Beach glass house

Talk about great views of the ocean. This glass house on Paradise Cove beach is one spectacular view after the other. This is a multi-layer property that boasts of four bedrooms and four baths. It was originally designed by Steven Ehrlich but went through a major interior re-design by Michael Lee who transformed it into the luxurious home it is today. The new remodel gives the owners a beautiful spacious deck off the master suite, along with a spa-like bathroom and all the awestruck views of the beach and ocean from throughout the home with the over-sized glass windows. This is a very spacious glass home that gives you all the best amenities and luxuries of stress-free, beautiful beach lifestyle.

9. Contemporary La Casa en el Bosque glass house in Mexico

This home was built around existing trees and is a sustainable home with unique features. The home is multi-level and an impressive size inside with unimaginable space and openness. On the main level you will be in awe at the views you have all around you that put you right in the heart of nature. Uniquely set up inside, you have different views of the outside depending on where you are in the home due to walled-off, separated areas of the living quarters. You also have sustainable features, with one being the waste-water recycling system for the irrigation system. Just one of many that make this house not only beautiful, but environmentally friendly.

8. Glass and Steel House Architecture – Contemporary Design in Sydney, Australia

You’ll get the feeling you’re in the trees when it comes to sleeping in this beautifully designed glass home by designers Utz-Sanby Architects. It was set up high on a slope that is surrounded by nature and beautiful trees that make it the perfect hideaway. The home was actually built as a luxury treehouse but boasts of beautiful modern conveniences, along with furnishings that are accented with warm tones throughout and wide open spaces for unobscured views of nature all around you. The home is worth $1,650,000 and is one of the most gorgeous glass homes anywhere.

7. Far Pond House in Long Island

Originally built as a 1970’s kit house and was later updated with hurricane force protective, fabricated steel panels. The very spacious glass home is a very large, with 3,100 square feet of open space combined in multiple levels of living quarters. From all around the house, the views are amazing through the seamless, flowing windows that look out over the immaculate yard on one side, and a water front view on the other. Inside are high-end amenities that give you the feeling you are in a luxurious hotel and spa, and it’s no wonder, with this multi-million dollar glass home.

6. Tokyo Boxy glass house design

The house didn’t seem to fit into the scheme of things around it, but that was one thing that made it different and unique, the way it looked being built out of glass, as well as the awkward, boxy style that seemed to be squished between other homes. It literally looks like one cubicle stacked on top of another, layer-after-layer, all the way to the top of its tall structure. The rooms are open and visual from the street, but it is one of the best views you can have of any of the other homes around – 360 degree birds-eye view of the city life around you. A very unique design and architecture for this area of the town of Tokyo.

5. Contemporary glass box house

An architectural masterpiece. This contemporary glass box house is modern beyond belief, every inch of its 4,900 square foot floor plan. The home sits on a steep slope surrounded by beautiful trees you can see from every angle. The house was designed with the box-theory in mind, creating boxes, upon boxes in various sizes and different types of materials, from wood, to glass, to stone. The home boasts of enormous glass windows that overlook nature from throughout the entire home. The home was designed to fulfill many aspects of life, in which it superseded. It caters to family life, entertaining, and connecting with nature.

4. Richard Meirer’s high and mighty beach front house

Beautiful in every sense of the word, this magnificent, stark white beach house is so odd, it’s perfect. It sits among traditional beach houses that make this one stick out unnaturally, yet magnificently. The 2,000 square foot home is modest in size, yet looks much larger with its open views from floor to ceiling windows all around its multi-layer construction. The house was designed using wood piles buried 10 feet deep below sea level and a steel frame on top that is able to support 25 full tons of glass. The views of the beach and ocean cannot compare from this glass home when compared to the neighboring, traditional beach homes, who must feel a sense of jealousy over the beauty you get, inside and out of this glass home.

3. GG House

This gorgeous glass house sits high on a steep slope, rising up higher by the support of four columns that support not only the home itself, but the terrace that extends. It is situated in the town of Krakow, Poland and is a design by architect Tadeusz Lemanski. Not only is this an innovative design, but there are some very unique features that were included in the home, including a vertical glass tunnel, built to house an elevator to connect the levels, both the private and social entities of the home. It also has an underground garage that is not accessible by the tunnel, as the tunnel discreetly disappears into the landscape. You can enter into the home through an unobtrusive door next to the garage which will lead you to the tunnel, or you may choose to enter through the door that leads to the main living and social areas. The GG House is not only one of the most beautiful glass houses, but one of the most unique.

2. Chiba wood and glass

This is a pentagonal shaped home that is noticed by the front and back of the home, exhibits some of the most intriguing design and architectural efforts. The home inside, is an abundance of open living space that has very few barriers. The home owner wanted open and spacious, with lots of territory to move about. There are three bedrooms, a kitchen, open living quarters and spa-like bathroom. The views from the inside include ocean views and beautiful scenery of the yard, where this homeowner’s dog loves to play. A beautifully crafted glass home that boasts of a contemporary design style.

1. Glass tower home in San Francisco

A San Francisco couple wanted something unique for their home, and that is what they got. With limited space to build their home, a small, 1,800 foot steep lot, they decided to get creative and build their home upward, like a tower. They decided on a glass house tower home so that they could enjoy the views of the city, but also wanted it private. They came up with the idea to use a system of moveable louvres which they had made out of cypress wood. They angled them so that you can take in the view from inside the home, but outsiders cannot peer into the home. Porthole windows were also installed into the glass walls to help ventilate the home in a very unique way, and to save on space, the kitchen on sports a roof over a portion of the room so that they enjoy a bit of the outdoors during the warm months, and cover the open space with fabric, during the cold, or wet months. This glass tower home is not only an example of how to be creative with a small lot, but to be creative with designing a work of art for a home.