He lives in a windowless house

Most homes are designed to bring the outside in: More glass. More light. More views. But architect Scott Specht at Specht Novak did the opposite by building his own home, the Stealth House, with no windows on its perimeter. Here’s why he thinks windows are overrated.

Q: What inspired you to build a windowless house? “I grew up in a standard suburban home with windows that faced other houses 10 feet away. The blinds were always closed. It never felt like a logical arrangement: Put in windows for light and views, then immediately cover them up. Then add fences and security cameras, and spend a fortune trying to solve problems the windows created in the first place. As I studied architectural history, I became fascinated with the ancient Roman house. They had this figured out: blank walls to the street, with all the light and beauty focused inward on private courtyards. Complete privacy without any of the apparatus we rely on today.”

Q: Where did you build it? “When I found a small alley lot in Austin, TX, surrounded by other houses, the site was practically begging for this approach. A conventional house here would give you windows looking at your neighbor’s siding. Those aren’t views worth framing. So I eliminated them entirely and turned the house inward around two landscaped courtyards with floor-to-ceiling glass.”

Q: What’s it like in there? “The obvious benefits are privacy and no street noise, neighbors, or lawnmowers. But what surprises people is that a windowless perimeter gives you more natural light, not less. Because all the floor-to-ceiling glass faces inward onto courtyards, we get beautiful, dappled light filtered through the branches of the olive tree. There’s also no need for blinds or curtains since no one can look in. The house is inherently secure without any of the technology people normally depend on. It honestly has been a life-changer. There’s this sense of calm that comes over us when we walk in that’s hard to describe. Visitors use the word zen or say it feels like a spa. My wife and I agree that we’d never go back to a traditional layout after this.”

Q: Where do windowless homes make sense? “Three settings: urban neighborhoods with minimal setbacks, suburbs where lots are small but the houses keep pretending they’re on a half-acre, and ‘scraplands,’ leftover parcels that cities have essentially written off as unbuildable—sites next to highways, along rail corridors, adjacent to industrial zones. These places have terrible noise and views, which is exactly why they’re cheap and available. A courtyard house doesn’t care.”

Q: Are there any downsides to going windowless? “Fewer than you’d think. The courtyard does require more glass than a conventional house, and glass isn’t cheap. But the savings from eliminating all exterior windows, blinds, fences, and security systems more than make up for it. The one real design challenge is getting the courtyard proportions right. If they’re too narrow, you feel like you’re in a slot canyon, and if they’re too wide, you lose interior floor area.”

Q: Was getting permits for a house like this tough? “I was worried that the building department wouldn’t know what to make of a house with no perimeter windows. The standard fire egress model assumes you’re climbing out a bedroom window. We designed hidden emergency exit doors which actually provide a much safer and more dignified means of escape. I expected pushback. But, in the end, the city had no issues.”

Q: Can homes be retrofitted to be windowless? “We’re renovating a house where we extended the front to create a walled enclosure entry court. You get all the light, but the view is transformed. It’s your space, planted and controlled, rather than the road. That same strategy can apply to the back of a house just as easily.”

Q: Any advice for real estate investors? “For investors, this is a renovating strategy with a real return. Privacy is becoming one of the most sought-after features in residential real estate, and most existing houses deliver almost none of it. A front courtyard enclosure or a walled garden on the side yard is a relatively modest construction project that fundamentally changes the experience of living in the house. You’re not just adding a feature; you’re solving a problem that every buyer or renter in a dense neighborhood is dealing with. And you don’t need a fully windowless house to capture this. You just need to start thinking about which views are worth having.”