How does one create privacy and tranquility in the middle of downtown Hiroshima Japan? Hiroshi Nakamura designed a home with a garden and optical glass facade on the street side of the house. 
The garden is visible from all rooms in the home.
Sun light from the east, refracting through the glass, creates beautiful light patterns.
The water basin skylight, the filtered light through the garden trees, and lightweight curtain of sputter coated metal allows the home owners to enjoy being in the center of a city and enjoy the passing seasons and the ebb and flow of the day without the abrasiveness of the noise of the city.
A facade of 6000 pure-glass blocks shuts out sound while simulatneously creates the open garden.
In the words of the architects, the facade appears like a waterfall flowing downward, scattering light and filling the air with freshness seen from either the garden or the street.