Four viewable sides is always. What I think you should do is drill two 3/4" holes on the middle of the bottom and attach two standpipes which go up to where your water level is. Build a four-sided overflow around the two stanpipes in the middle. Surround the overflow with your live rock structure.
Drilling the bottom pane shouldn't be a big deal with a custom tank if you use the proper thickness of glass. In fact, this setup is essentially the same as an AGA Megaflow except in the middle of the tank instead of a corner.
If you want more return points, you could always drill a few other bulkheads but I'm not sure at which point you'd start to compromise the strength of the bottom pane.
Sounds like it could be a beautiful setup especially if you use Starphire or another low-iron glass.
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