Garage project: building an unpowered, analog near-infrared viewing device

Consider this a thought experiment that may inspire me to attempt real-world prototype construction if feasible. 

Design an unpowered near-infrared viewer:

1. A physical device that allows one human to see in near-infrared
2. No electricity or digital instruments of any kind required as part of its operation
3. Latency and frequency of update should be near real time
4. Device can be fixed in place, mounted, or portable
5. No size constraints, but practical is better!
6. No viewer constraints (the plate, eyepiece, etc. which the human sees the image with) on size, resolution, or color
7. Device should be usable in a variety of environments
8. Be modestly robust against noise (6 and 7 can be accomplished with added filters, enclosures, etc. it need not be one unit)
9. Prefer mundane materials wherever possible, but use exotic materials where necessary
    

Have fun with it! I will award the bounty to the first person who attempts to sincerely answer, no matter how speculative or impractical they must be to do so.

Response format:

Assuming it is safe and lawful to do so, please include basic steps to building a device based on your response. Instructions assume a determined tinkerer with no special access to scientific or engineering materials and tools. Focus on the challenging, error-prone, and unintuitive steps.

Rights and Disclaimer: If any novel knowledge, designs, or processes should arise from this bounty, I make no personal claims to them. Furthermore, to the extent that I am able as the sponsor of this bounty, I place any such innovations under the CC0 public domain license. None of: my placing this information under the public domain, my bounty post, nor any communication in this thread is neither meant to condone nor encourage unsafe or unlawful materials acquisition, research, or construction. This information is released as-is without any claims or guarantees on my part to its validity, safety, or lawfulness. Utilize this information at your own risk. There is no replacement for common sense.