Industrial Design Residences｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices6Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

In an industrial-style home, the inherent textures and structural expressions of the materials themselves shape the impression of the space. By combining diverse materials such as concrete, metal, wood, and tile, spaces can be created that feel both inorganic yet surprisingly warm. In configurations that intentionally expose beams, columns, and piping, the structural elements and utilities themselves exist as part of the interior design. At the same time, combinations with furniture, lighting, and wood elements can soften the strength of raw materials to fit comfortably into everyday life. Spaces that shift in appearance through material combinations and the play of light and shadow hold a distinct allure unique to industrial design. We introduce custom-built examples by architectural firms to show how these characteristics are expressed architecturally in real homes.

Hybrid House Along the Tokigawa River H₂O Design Office

This is a glass house with a hybrid structure of steel, timber, and glass, built on a site of approximately 220 tsubo along the Tokigawa stream in the northwestern part of Saitama Prefecture, about 50 km from the city center. It faces the Chichibu mountain range and opens onto an environment where the clear stream and seasonal changes can be enjoyed. The second-floor living spaces are arranged with a circulatory flow, with a design that prioritizes an integrated thermal environment and abundant daylighting. Instead of providing openings in the exterior walls, the building is equipped with an environmental control system that combines horizontal louvers on projecting floors with gravity-driven (stack) ventilation, connected to topside mechanical exhaust.

House in Obama ARCHIXXX Satoru Shinno Architectural Design

A residence in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, for a family that runs a steel fabrication plant. The layout and materials were selected by carefully considering the sense of distance from the adjacent factory. Inside, a circulation route was planned around a handmade Japanese-style room constructed with steel frames, allowing the family to move freely throughout the house. Steel furniture and staircases made by the family themselves are placed throughout, creating a dialogue between the presence of steel as a material and the warmth of craftsmanship. By bringing the activities of the factory into the life of the home, this is a richly lived-in residence where the character of the family comes alive in every detail.

A House in Fushimi, Kyoto Tetsuya Kimura Architects

Standing beside a river in Fushimi, Kyoto, this house accommodates a workspace on the first floor and living quarters on the second. In response to the streetscape of sake breweries, the exterior walls are clad in black charred cedar, while the textures of the materials are expressed plainly, both inside and out. Rough plywood walls and ceilings, along with an earthen-floored area that retains the concrete as it is, create a simple space in which the boundary between structure and finish is blurred. The careful handiwork of the craftsmen brings out the inherent beauty of the materials themselves.

A Small House for Open Living in the Gap Between Buildings | Kigawa Row House Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Associates

This project is a reconstruction of a house situated within the densely built urban fabric of Yodogawa Ward, Osaka. The narrow, elongated site is subdivided into compact zones to enable an efficient arrangement of an earthen‑floored entrance, living room, bedrooms, and wet areas. Spatial continuity and separation are alternated by operable sliding partitions, producing a plan attentive to daylighting, natural ventilation, and privacy. By defining a spatial logic in which ‘on’ and ‘off’ are clearly toggled, the design realizes a dwelling that supports parent‑and‑child living within the constraints of the city.

around *studioLOOP Architects

A home for a couple, their three sons, and their beloved dog, where each family member’s activities are gently connected. By arranging the entrance, wet areas, storage room, and other spaces along the east and west sides, the house is shielded from the bustle of its surroundings, creating an open-plan LDK with breezes flowing from north to south. The living room and dining kitchen maintain a sense of unity while creating distinct places through differences in floor level. A study, doma space, and children’s room that can be divided into three rooms in the future respond to the family’s diverse ways of living, while carefully crafted details that make the most of wood leave a lasting impression.

hideaway: Building Renovation in Mito e do design architects

Under the theme of an 'adult hideaway', we renovated a space that had previously been used as commercial tenancies and offices into a residence for a married couple. The spacious open-plan living, dining and kitchen (LDK) has the atmosphere of a bar where colleagues and friends gather, while also serving as a place for the couple to enjoy cooking and conversation. A fully custom kitchen and built-in wall storage create a calm, refined ambiance. It is a home where work and living, hobbies and rest coexist comfortably, adding a touch of the extraordinary to everyday life.