Homes Embracing Natural Light｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices24Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

In a home that captures natural light, illumination pouring through windows and double-height voids shapes not only indoor brightness but the expression of the space itself. Angles of light shifting from morning to evening and shadows cast across walls and floors allow different atmospheres to be felt within the same location over time. Beyond capturing direct light through large windows, architectural expressions of natural light vary widely, including configurations guiding light via high-level windows or courtyards. Material textures also shift depending on how they receive light, bringing serene depth to interiors. We introduce custom-built examples by architectural firms to illustrate how homes capturing natural light are expressed architecturally in real residences.

Light-Gathering House Yosuke Tomiya Architectural Design Co., Ltd.

This residence is located in a densely built-up residential area near central Sapporo. To ensure access to natural light even as more buildings are added around it in the future, the design combines a south-facing courtyard, a void, large openings on the second floor, and clerestory windows extending to the height of the third floor, bringing in light from different levels. The shape of the walls facing the courtyard also captures reflected and indirect light, while the stairwell functions as a natural ventilation stack. The result is an open living environment filled with light and fresh air, while maintaining privacy in the city.

House Behind the School Building an Archi-Lab. First-Class Architect Office

This is a reconstruction plan of the long-occupied family home so that a mother and her daughter can live there. Under the severe condition of a narrow 19-tsubo site with an elementary school building pressing on the south side, a small garden and a nure-en (verandah) were provided on the southern side of the site to bring light, wind, and a sense of depth into the residence. Internally, multiple living areas were arranged according to degrees of privacy and openness, realizing a composition in which light moves throughout the entire house. While engaging carefully with the surrounding environment, the design cultivates a rich residential quality within a limited footprint. The phrase "a house you want to come home to" testifies to that comfort.

House in Saito Aominami ARCHIXXX Satoru Shinno Architectural Design

This home is located in a newly developed new town. To protect privacy from the surrounding houses, the second-floor living/dining/kitchen area, bathroom, and terrace are enclosed by exterior walls, creating an inward-facing configuration reminiscent of a courtyard house. While limiting views from outside, natural light and ventilation are brought in from above, creating a comfortable living environment without a sense of enclosure. The first floor is designed as a pilotis-like driveway, allowing cars to pass through the parking area. Making the most of the site conditions, the home balances ease of living with privacy.

A House with Depth Yu Architectural Design Studio

This is a rebuilt residence on a narrow, elongated site within a densely developed residential area. To improve a living environment that had previously received little daylight, a double‑height void and clerestory windows were strategically located so that natural light permeates the entire dwelling. Diagonal walls were introduced to create visual depth and a sense of expansiveness that exceeds the actual floor area. Natural materials, including solid timber, were used so the home can be enjoyed for the richness that develops with age. The design is intended to flexibly accommodate changes in family composition and lifestyle, aiming to be a house that can be lived in and passed down over the long term.

Moriguchi-Dainichi Residence Coo Planning

This is a two-story timber house in Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture. Located at the end of a dead-end road, the site conditions prompted a plan that emphasizes privacy from surrounding sightlines. The exterior is a minimalist design with minimized openings, while a skylight above the double-height void brings natural light into a bright, open LDK. The project also incorporates attention to equipment and systems—24-hour ventilation and photovoltaic power generation among them—achieving both comfort and energy efficiency. The dwelling provides the functions and livability required of contemporary urban housing.

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.

House in Kumano Town Abax Architects

This residence in Sakai City incorporates a piano studio on the ground floor. To ensure sound insulation performance, the ground floor is constructed in reinforced concrete (RC), while the second and third floors are timber-framed, creating a mixed structural system. A primary school playground spreads out in front of the site, and taking advantage of this open environment a large clerestory window was provided in the living room. The result is a generous space where one can relax on the sofa and gaze at the sky. Additionally, a rooftop terrace for barbecuing has been provided, making this a home where one can enjoy rich moments even within the urban context.

Two-Generation Courtyard House on a Narrow Irregular Lot Archiplace

A fully separated two-family residence located in a densely built residential area of the city center. Given the condition of an elongated, irregularly shaped site surrounded by buildings on three sides, a courtyard and deck terrace are placed on the southwest side—the only side with an unobstructed view. By designing it as a three-story timber-framed courtyard house, an open living environment that admits natural light and natural ventilation is achieved while screening sightlines from the surroundings. The home accommodates a dual-income couple who enjoy music and an aunt who lives with a beloved cat; it respects each household’s way of life while enabling occupants to feel close to nature within the urban context.

Residence in Niihama Masahiko Sawamura Architect and Associates

Nordic-style residence

Steps III Hirotaka Sato Architects

This timber house for a couple stands on a narrow lot facing an alley. By combining four U-shaped structural walls with floors at different heights, the continuous sequence of changes in level creates rich spatial depth and open sightlines within a limited floor area. Based on a structural system that can be adapted to suit the residents’ lives, the spaces were developed in response to the site conditions and the occupants’ lifestyle. The project proposes diverse scales and flexible ways of living within a small urban home.

House on a Sloping Street Tenkosha First-Class Architects Office

This is a new residence planned in a quiet residential neighborhood of Shiroyama, Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Although the site is approximately 93 tsubo in area, road access is narrow and on a steep incline, so work began with widening the entrance. To ensure safety against the cliff on the west side, a high foundation and a setback were provided, and the building was located at the center of the site. Existing trees were thinned while retaining a persimmon tree as a symbol of the garden and daily life. Apitong timber was used for the exterior cladding and deck to harmonize with the surrounding trees. A double‑height void and large openings gently connect interior and exterior, creating a soft residence enveloped by the tactile quality of wood.

Garage House in Higashi-Osaka In-Ex Design Co., Ltd.

A residence for a car-loving couple that secures parking for four vehicles on a site of approximately 30 tsubo. The garage, occupying the majority of the first floor, provides three column-free internal parking spaces and one additional outdoor space. Within the constraints of a limited site, the project progressed with careful consideration of the balance between the building and its structure. Living spaces are consolidated on the second floor, and by skillfully employing a large privacy screen the arrangement is not revealed from the exterior, resulting in a refined, composed façade. A home where cherished cars and daily life coexist beautifully.

House in Endo Kurashi no Jōzōsho

Responding to a site enclosed by residences on all sides, this dwelling brings light and greenery into a U‑shaped courtyard at its heart. Employing an east‑facing garden strategy to capture morning light from the east while securing daylighting from the south, the design achieves a sense of openness that belies its total floor area of 26 tsubo (approximately 86 m²). A deck level with the living room provides a pleasant, outward extension of the living space. Trees such as Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) and olive animate the seasons, completing a home in which the family can peacefully spend the years together.

A House Living in Harmony with Wood Ringo Studio, First-Class Architect's Office

A residence situated in the scenic conservation district of Ōmiya, connected to tranquil nature. Under a site‑coverage limit of 40%, a simple square planimetric and volumetric composition was employed to create a generous spatial extent. Openings boldly capture the light and breezes passing through the private road to the south and borrow the landscape of the neighboring house. Internally, a skip floor with a 1.5‑storey intermediate level secures floor area and openly links the spaces of differing heights. The spaces, finished in locally sourced Nishikawa cedar, form a beautiful building—underpinned by classical methods—where exterior and interior comfortably meld.

A House That Shares Light and Air Troom

This is a fully independent two-family house planned on a narrow flag lot. Large openings are provided in the small terraces to the north and south and positioned at an intermediate height between the first and second floors, allowing the residents’ sightlines to be controlled to a comfortable degree. At the same time, the openings draw in as much light and air as possible to both levels, creating a home where parents and children can comfortably share light and air while maintaining their respective lifestyles.

CACCO — Residential Interior Coordination Contest, Category Award YIA Ishiue Yoshihiro Architectural Design Office

The site occupies a corner of a cul‑de‑sac one lot removed from an arterial road, in a relatively dense residential context. A single‑storey house stood to the south, so it was necessary to secure daylighting from the east and by additional means. The entrance, LDK and staircase are unified by the warm materiality of red cedar. Each private room adjoins this grouped space, allowing the family atmosphere to be sensed.

White House Far East Design Lab.

A residence for a family of four that balances the openness characteristic of suburban neighborhoods with the need for privacy. By placing a daylight-filled stairwell at the core, the floors are softly connected and each level enjoys bright spaces with a close relationship to the sky while minimizing views from the outside. A roof balcony on the third floor allows for kitchen gardening; the first floor includes a fully sound-insulated theater room that doubles as a guest bedroom. The vertical and horizontal composition and window placement combine to realize both openness and comfortable private spaces.

Machiya in Machiya Takeshi Hirobe Architects

This house introduces a courtyard into a densely built-up shitamachi site, as though the upper floors had been carved away. Even in an environment where opening the house to its surroundings is difficult, it creates an “interior exterior” that brings in light and air, filling the living spaces with abundant brightness. The stairs and passageways surrounding the courtyard continue like one large stair hall, and living rooms and bedrooms emerge as its landings are expanded. Within a highly insulated and airtight enveloped space, finely textured walls and built-in furniture are layered together in a home that makes meticulous use of every limited dimension, like a product.

House of Mist and Distance Mitsuhiro Kojima Architects

This residence is situated at the center of an eight‑lot subdivision. To cultivate a comfortable relationship with the cul‑de‑sac—used as both a place for residents to interact and a play area for children—we aimed for spaces that gently connect rather than close off. Inside, the arrangement of walls, subtle changes in floor levels, and screens composed of layered perforated panels softly modulate sightlines, creating a sense of depth and spatial distance like that found in mist. Light diffuses delicately through the perforated panels, lending the interior a gentle expression. The home’s brightness and presence extend across the entire block, realizing an open residential environment.

Mikuri House Yoshihiro Ito Architect & Associates

Set in a quiet residential neighborhood, this home takes advantage of the seasonal greenery spreading across the grounds of a nearby shrine as borrowed scenery. Expansive, ceiling-height openings on the north and south sides bring the rich landscape and natural light into the interior. By allocating the limited budget appropriately and providing deep eaves and places open to the outdoors, the design enables a spacious way of living even within a small home. Wooden fittings and shoji screens create a soft light and lend the house a beautiful presence even when it is closed to the outside.

House in Izumisano Kumi Inoue Architects

friends *studioLOOP Architects

This house for a couple and the mother balances family connectedness with rich, personal time for each resident. The LDK and second-floor loft are integrated, while large openings facing the south garden and windows framing views of the sky draw in natural light and create a sense of openness. A road-bike maintenance space is provided near the entrance. Alongside the cherry tree in the garden, the house will grow over time, adding a new scene to the surrounding townscape. The low-eaves white exterior quietly expresses harmony with the town.

Koshien House — Renovation Beginning with Solid-Wood Floor Restoration Tokuhiro Norimatsu Architect

This residence carefully excavates the latent charm of the building through the act of reconstruction. Private rooms were removed, and from a newly introduced raised platform the living room can be viewed through the window, creating a layout that produces a gentle connection not only within the interior but also mediated by the exterior. The columns that serve as the spatial anchors have been assigned new roles, and while inheriting the time and memories the building has accumulated, they quietly overlay contemporary living and performance. It is a home imbued with the deep allure unique to reconstruction.

A House with “Ma” Connecting Two Households AtelierMA

Located in a residential neighborhood in Ota City, Tokyo, this two-generation house allows the parents’ and children’s households to live together while maintaining a comfortable sense of distance. By combining multiple volumes, the design gently separates each family’s living domain while creating a sense of unity as a single home. The centrally positioned balcony serves as a shared space where family members naturally gather and deepen their interaction. Balancing independence with connection, the house fosters rich relationships that span generations.