Homes in Harmony with Nature｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices20Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

In a home living with nature, natural environments such as gardens, greenery, light, and breeze are drawn into the residence, creating spaces where architecture and nature connect gently. Configurations framing greenery through large windows or linking interiors and exteriors via terraces and courtyards allow seasonal changes to be felt as part of daily scenery. Utilizing natural materials like wood and stone can produce expressions where exterior environments and indoor textures resonate with one another. Spatial impressions shift throughout the day depending on how light and wind enter, making nature itself part of the home. We introduce custom-built examples by architectural firms to show how the theme of living with nature is expressed architecturally in real residences.

Forest Living KICHI ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

“Forest Living” is a single-story residence situated within a dense forest. The exterior is clad in traditional Japanese yakisugi (charred cedar), whose subdued black finish naturally melds with the surrounding woodland landscape. The building is organized on a single level, with a plan that provides forest views from every room. By experiencing the expanse of greenery through the windows, occupants are afforded a quiet, tranquil mode of living.

YAMANARI — House Embracing the Mountain Ridge YIA Ishiue Yoshihiro Architectural Design Office

A residence for a young couple who cultivate sudachi, embraced by Tokushima’s abundant mountain ranges. Taking advantage of the elevated site, an open plan was designed with a second‑floor living room and a tatami corner that look out over the expansive greenery. The relationship with the main house is mediated by a generous earthen‑floored doma and a double‑height void, creating a gentle connection while appropriately controlling sightlines to achieve a comfortable sense of distance. Interiors using natural materials—such as Lauan plywood and solid acacia timber—respond to the surrounding landscape, allowing the occupants to feel the changing seasons close at hand.

Mountain Villa with a Large Tree In-Ex Design Co., Ltd.

This compact yet generous dwelling sits at the foothills of Kitashirakawa. The starting point of the design was the family’s wish to live together with a large existing tree rooted on the site. In addition to a site layout planned to protect the tree, the exterior walls are carefully clad in narrow-width cedar boards, and the building itself is designed to age in concert with nature. Quietly blending into the surrounding landscape, it will deepen in character over time. It is a home that inherits the memories inscribed in the land and cultivates a new passage of time.

YMK Takeshi Hirobe Architects

This home for a designer couple stands on a site surrounded by Karuizawa’s rich natural environment. By preserving the existing large Japanese maple trees and incorporating views opening toward the valley, the design brings the distinctive landscape of the site into everyday life. In response to the conditions particular to a cold region, a comfortable thermal environment is achieved through high-capacity thermal storage units and 24-hour air conditioning. A delicate timber truss and a three-dimensional spatial composition extending across five interconnected levels gently link the family’s diverse places of activity. It is a highland home where nature and everyday life quietly overlap.

Two-Generation Residence Under One Roof | House at the Foothills of Mount Katsuragi Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Associates

A house set on the eastern foothills of Mount Yamato Katsuragi, crowned by a simple pitched triangular roof. Inhabited by a married couple, the mother, and two cats, the dwelling zones partially overlap to preserve a balanced distance between two-family separation and single-house cohabitation. The couple’s LDK on the ground floor connects to the second-floor landing, bedroom, and wet areas via a double-height stair with large windows and bookshelves. The mother’s program places the bedroom and wet areas on the ground floor and a compact LDK on the second floor. Outside, fields and the seasonal expression of Mount Katsuragi frame a slow-paced atmosphere.

Fan House Yoshihiro Ito Architect & Associates

This is a three-household residence set on gently sloping ground. Taking advantage of its rich surroundings—with rural scenery extending to the south and tea fields spreading to the north—the house adopts a fan-shaped plan that embraces the landscape. Its open composition allows the natural scenery to be felt from anywhere in the home. The three households are gently connected by sliding fittings, ensuring a comfortable sense of distance while allowing the residents to remain aware of one another’s presence. It is a serene home that makes the most of the beauty of its materials, with white plaster walls and beautiful timber framing.

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.

House Nestled Among the Trees Archiplace

A residence for a family of three—a couple in their thirties and their son. The design capitalizes on a wooded site with views of Mount Asama to the north, employing a spatial organization that integrates interior and exterior. Service areas (wet rooms) are arranged to face the south and a small inner courtyard to ensure a bright, well-ventilated environment. The Japanese-style room, intended to accommodate tea gatherings and overnight guests, is separated from the living/dining/kitchen area and located adjacent to the service zones. A second-floor study is conceived as a family space for enjoying the views, realizing a home that embraces life in close relationship with nature.

Villa by the Takano River Echizen Design Laboratory

This house stands on a 100-square-meter site along Kyoto’s Takano River, overlooking the Matsugasaki Hills. Under the stringent conditions of a Special Scenic District, it makes the most of the limited floor area while achieving a spacious, expansive interior. A structural framework that draws on the individual characteristics of reinforced concrete, wood, and steel brings wind, light, sound, and the surrounding landscape into the home. It creates diverse places to inhabit between inside and outside, offering an open and spacious way of living that gently connects the city with nature.

House in Okura Atelier Cotocoto

This is a dwelling designed for a couple engaged in organic farming, harmonizing with nature. It aligns with their lifestyle principles and approach to craftsmanship, aiming to create spaces that gently soothe the fatigue of fieldwork. Natural materials such as solid cedar and diatomaceous-earth plaster are employed, and a fenestration strategy has been adopted to allow occupants to sense seasonal transitions and variations in light. The exterior also emphasizes the texture of wood, permitting enjoyment of the deepening patina over time. Additionally, a high-performance thermal insulation specification and a radiant heating-and-cooling system provide a comfortable indoor environment year-round. It is a serene and abundant residence that reflects the philosophy of natural circulation in the home.

House in Takao Mochizuki Architectural Atelier

This home stands beside a clear stream flowing from Mount Takao, on a site with mountain views to the south and a shrine and bamboo grove to the north. To blend with the surrounding natural environment, the building is bent into a dogleg in response to the shape of the site, with the living room positioned at its center of gravity. A roof following the south-facing slope, a continuous timber ceiling, and changes in floor level create calm zones within the horizontally expansive layout. Careful attention was also given to the eaves and soffits, with the aim of creating a home where the family can slowly enjoy the changing character of nature.

A Music Pavilion Nestled in Greenery JYU ARCHITECT

It is a satellite pavilion with a small performance space, planned for people who love music. By configuring approximately two-thirds of the building as a sloped, double-height volume, a generous interior was achieved while keeping the overall height restrained. The roof form, which sits quietly within the surrounding context, is directly employed in the interior acoustic design. The resonance of a grand piano, various instruments, and the human voice diffuses pleasantly, creating a space that envelops rich sound from solo to ensemble. It functions as a refined small music hall where architecture and music quietly resonate.

House on a Sloped Site with a Bridge 12mm Architects

A rebuilding project for a two-generation residence in Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture. The site has very good views, but significant elevation differences within the site and with adjacent properties, and an aged cobble/river-stone retaining wall, made planning how to handle the grade differences a central concern.

House in Higashiura Kumi Inoue Architects

This residence is situated on a hill in Higashiura on Awaji Island. Positioned on a site overlooking Osaka Bay, it was conceived with a priority on health and comfort. Making the most of the easterly views, the rooms are arranged in a gentle staggered (stepped) configuration along the site’s elongated north–south axis, and a series of high‑ceiling volumes is linked beneath an expansive roof. Fresh air is drawn in from under the floor and circulated throughout the interior, creating a healthy living environment that is also attentive to the family’s physiological needs.

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.

Yama no Ie Troom

This vacation home stands on a sloping site covered by a beautiful broad-leaved forest. The large tree that had grown along the natural contours of the site was preserved, and the building is arranged to gently enclose it as a courtyard. Throughout the interior, places have been created to enjoy the trees and the greenery of the slope from various angles. This mountain home features a generous, cohesive one-room space dotted with a variety of places where one person or a large group can spend time comfortably.

House in Komoro KASA ARCHITECTS

This single-story residence in Komoro City, Nagano Prefecture, is occupied by a couple and their two children. Taking advantage of site conditions with views of Mount Asama to the north and the Yatsugatake range to the south, the design is a simple dwelling with a mono-pitched roof that opens broadly to the south. To mitigate strong northerly winds in winter, north-facing openings are minimized, while the layout facilitates comfortable cross-ventilation from seasonal breezes. Deep eaves temper the summer sun, and the low, elongated horizontal lines impart a calm, composed presence.

House in Karuizawa Kurashi no Jōzōsho

Set within a quiet villa enclave in Karuizawa, this residence was conceived for a retired couple and their cherished cat. Sited to embrace a richly natural environment—where the murmur of a stream and the whisper of trees are integral—the architecture is deliberately restrained in scale and expression so as not to dominate the landscape. The approach, which crosses a bridge en route to the entrance, functions as an intentional sequence of evolving views. Seasonal vistas framed by the windows and the subtle interplay of light and shadow impart a calm, poignant quality to daily life.

House Opening to the Forest Yosuke Tomiya Architectural Design Co., Ltd.

This home was planned around the forest that unfolds beyond the building, discovered during a visit to the site. From the entrance, one passes through the earthen-floored entryway and alongside the bookshelf, then ascends a gentle level change to find the forest filling a large window. Large openings framing views of the forest and high-level windows admitting natural light are used selectively, while the differences in elevation across the sloping site are embraced through a split-level layout. It is a home where one lives alongside a forest that changes its character with the seasons, growing richer with the passage of time.

moment *studioLOOP Architects

A single-story home for a family of five, set on a spacious 500-square-meter site. Taking advantage of the rural landscape to the north, abstract images reminiscent of a museum by the water or one set within a forest have been translated into the architecture and landscape design. The east–west volume temporarily blocks the view, creating an extraordinary experience as the reflecting pool and landscape unfold the moment the entrance door is opened. With the LDK at its center, the rooms are arranged around it, while deep eaves and exposed structural beams guide light and air, shaping a calm lifestyle in harmony with nature.