This house was commissioned by Time magazine as a prototype for a dwelling of the future. It is an urban structure that responds to a contemporary desire for infinite space in the dense metropolis. Rather than abandoning the city and recreating an artificial urban experience outside of it, the house addresses the city by existing simultaneously inside and above it.

The proposal suggests that penthouses could be built on high-rise buildings, brownstones, and mega-blocks, where they would act as illuminated beacons, transparently celebrating domesticity and everyday life. Visible from below as well from surrounding homes, they would “publicize privacy,” offering a counterpoint to the Internet, which privatizes public life. The glass penthouses would also provide brilliant observation points on the on-going spectacle of the city down below.