A Home to Live with Art｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices9Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

Living with art turns the home itself into a backdrop that embraces various works, where the relationship between paintings, sculptures, photographs, and the space shapes the impression of daily life. The elements that elevate a piece are numerous, including blank wall spaces, the way light enters, framed sightlines, and the textures of materials. Depending on where a piece is placed, the same living space can evoke entirely different expressions, and configurations can be designed to enhance the mutual presence of both architecture and art. When considering the balance with furniture and lighting as well, a picture emerges where the home is not merely a space for decoration, but a place where art and everyday life naturally overlap. We introduce custom-built examples by architectural firms, showcasing how the theme of living with art is expressed architecturally in real homes.

Message from the sky Hirotaka Sato Architects

This urban residence was born from the desire “to feel the sky.” Light entering through the skylights brings the clear morning sky, summer sunlight, twilight, snow, and scenes after the rain into the interior, allowing the ever-changing expressions of the sky to become part of everyday life. Natural materials such as natural slate, cedar, and earthen walls are used, along with underfloor heating that takes advantage of concrete’s thermal storage capacity. Light and shadow, together with the textures of the materials, resonate with one another to create a rich living environment.

House I in Utsukushigaoka Nishi Takayoshi Nakamura Architects & Associates

A home for Sachiyo Iha, an art director, designer, and artist, her family, and their two cats. A bright and refined house that reflects the personality of Ms. Iha, who has a deep love of architecture and had dreamed of commissioning an architect to design her own home. The open LDK, with views of the hill and sky, is designed as a space where she can spend time with her family and friends while cooking. The house can also adapt flexibly to changes in the family, with the children's rooms able to be converted into an atelier or SOHO space in the future. It is a home where life is enjoyed with the cats, and where friends and colleagues gather on weekends.

House in Momoyama Masahiko Sawamura Architect and Associates

A quiet house for a calligrapher

House of Earthen Floor and Cloister 12mm Architects

A stoic residence housing a gallery, located in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture. The plan uses a courtyard placed at the center of the building as a focal point, allowing daily life to unfold beautifully. The entire ground‑floor slab is finished in steel‑trowelled concrete, and the exterior walls are unified with a mortar steel‑trowel render treated with a water‑repellent coating — simple wet‑applied materials that retain the traces of craftsmen’s handwork. The pared‑back, simple and tranquil spaces, stripped of superfluous ornament, present the occupant’s daily life and art in a modern manner.

Karuizawa Terrace Mitsuhiro Kojima Architects

This villa for an art collector is sited on a north-facing slope. The rooms are linked in a bead-like sequence so that each movement presents a different view; the intent is to enable an embodied experience of nature rather than merely observing it. Window shapes and proportions vary from room to room, each framing a distinct landscape. In addition, the staircase connecting the first and second floors is deliberately located outdoors, creating a circulation path that ensures contact with nature as part of everyday life. The result is a quiet retreat where one can engage deeply with the natural environment, perceiving changes in light, breeze, humidity, and sound through the senses.

F Atelier JYU ARCHITECT

This is an atelier for a nihonga (Japanese-style) painter built on a site of approximately 32 tsubo. Pursuing uniform light that is not affected by season, time of day, or weather, soft natural light is admitted through an inverted-pitch butterfly roof and cross-shaped slits. Plaster-finished curved walls diffuse the light and fill the entire space with an ideal production environment with minimal shadows. A column-free volume of approximately 4.6 m × 9.6 m accommodates the creation of large works and their handling for installation and removal. The design also includes a system to channel rainwater to a water-lily pond and incorporates a Japanese-style room, creating a place where creation and nature quietly resonate. Consideration has been given to both earthquake-resistant and seismic vibration-control performance, allowing the artist to immerse themselves in work with peace of mind.

harmony *studioLOOP Architects

Built on a site facing a busy road, this residence was planned to accommodate a four-car garage, a large terrace, and a high degree of privacy. By drawing the garage into the interior of the building, the design provides safe and spacious vehicle access. The large terrace adjoining the second-floor living-dining-kitchen area is enclosed by louvers, softly screening views from outside while allowing light and air to enter. By richly designing not only the living spaces but also the areas of openness represented by the garage and terrace, the residence achieves both a refined exterior and an urban lifestyle.

House in Chofu Atelier Mana

This is a lifelong home for a couple in a quiet residential neighborhood in Chofu. In response to the narrow site with neighboring houses close by, a courtyard, private terraces, and a void were incorporated three-dimensionally to secure light, ventilation, and connections between inside and out. The warm exterior, composed of brick, rendered walls, and a wooden door, is complemented by a living room that celebrates changing light, a calm dining area, and separate studies for each spouse. The house creates a rich setting where their hobbies and treasured furnishings can be cherished.

An Artist's Atelier — A Place of Creation Enveloped in Quietude and Tension Tokuhiro Norimatsu Architect

An atelier designed for a single painter to quietly engage in creative work. It aims to be a space distinct from the comfort of a residence, suffused with a measured tension and stillness. Eschewing excessive theatricality, it provides an environment in which the subtle daily shifts—such as the flow of clouds, the sound of water, the gradations of greenery, and the passage of light—can be perceived. The particular light and presence that fill the place become the source of creation. It is a quiet vessel for engaging with nature and returning to the canvas.