A Residence for Relaxation｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices12Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

In a relaxation-focused home, spatial designs that release daily tension and embrace unhurried moments translate directly into the character of the residence. By unifying bathrooms, wash areas, and living rooms with calm materials and soft lighting, spaces dedicated to physical rest blend serenely with the living environment. Zones framing views of gardens or the sky from windows, spaces bathed in gentle natural light, and the textures of wood and stone are elements that generate a tranquil atmosphere. Harmonizing the entire spatial composition down to furniture and lighting creates a place to feel everyday ease without relying on specialized facilities. We introduce custom-built examples by architectural firms to explore how the theme of relaxation is expressed architecturally in real homes.

Villa Atelier Mana

This villa, approximately one hour by car from central Tokyo, overlooks a private beach with white sandy shores. In response to the strict building coverage restrictions imposed by the scenic district and the site's location facing a national highway along the coast, the entire building is enveloped in wooden louvers, ensuring openness toward the landscape while screening views from the surrounding area. The density of the louvers is adjusted to control sightlines, while the interior incorporates an outdoor living area, a jacuzzi, and a pool. The view toward the sea is connected across the reflecting pools, creating an extraordinary stay.

House OTF Far East Design Lab.

A residence planned for a couple raising three daughters. Drawing on memories of their annual summer holidays in Okinawa, the design seeks to enable the family to enjoy extended summers together. The site incorporates a swimming pool and outdoor living areas, bringing the ambience of a southern‑island villa into everyday life. Through the deliberate arrangement of deep eaves and fenestration, the spaces remain comfortable in summer by providing shade and promoting natural breezes. The house is conceived as a place to accumulate time with the children and seasonal memories.

House in Higashikori Abax Architects

Located in a quiet residential neighborhood, this spacious residence exceeds 100 tsubo. By configuring a U-shaped floor plan facing southwest, it gently screens views from the outside while ensuring privacy. The interior is unified in soft tones, imparting a calm atmosphere throughout the space. Many of the furnishings, including the kitchen, were custom-made, resulting in fittings integrated with the residence. It is a home that envelops a tranquil daily life in which quietness and refined quality are harmoniously balanced.

Kuno House Troom

This vacation home, built on the gentle slopes of Karuizawa, provides a place where family members across generations can gather. The building was arranged in a ku-shaped configuration to block views from the neighboring house while opening sightlines toward the woodland extending to the southeast. Within the approximately 30-tsubo space, the design creates an expansive sense of openness and views that shift depending on where one is situated. Antique stained glass is layered with the textures of solid-wood beams and brick tiles, weaving a timeless character into the home’s contemporary appearance.

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.

N FLAT kurachiffon Miki Takiuchi First-Class Architect’s Office

This renovation transforms the top-floor, 80-square-meter apartment, built 45 years ago, into a home where the residents can restore their physical and mental well-being in their own way. Making the most of the dynamic views toward Shinjuku and the high ceilings, the design creates a serene space centered on concrete beams and a monochrome palette. A blue entrance door, green accents, and artworks by friends add touches of color. With a mortar-finished bathroom and a kitchen with a counter facing the living space, the home combines the comfort of being released from the demands of busy everyday life with an openness that naturally draws people together.

F mökki Yoshihiro Ito Architect & Associates

A small structure and a lifestyle with a sauna cabin in the garden.

Kamiooka Nagaya Takayoshi Nakamura Architects & Associates

This fully separated two-family house stands on a site with significant changes in elevation along a railway line. Taking advantage of roads on both the east and west sides, the entrances are separated, with future conversion to rental use also considered in the planning. The parents’ household on the first floor has an LDK connected to the garden, while the younger family’s second floor features a spacious deck with views. A device that allows the parents’ light to filter through a skylight in the deck conveys a sense of the other generation’s presence and nurtures a considerate way of living together.

House of Hope Tada Architectural Design Office

This residence is a renovated 50-year-old house reborn as a private house for richly enjoying time alone. Making use of light pouring in from a skylight, the first floor is laid out as a one-room space centered on a doma (earth-floored zone). The living room, work space, kitchen, and bathroom are loosely connected, creating a deep, open spatial composition. On the second floor a training space reminiscent of a dance studio has been provided, with design features throughout to enable daily physical activity. It is a quiet retreat for restoring body and mind while enjoying time that is true to oneself.

Circulation Hirotaka Sato Architects

This two-story timber house is located in a quiet residential neighborhood in Motoyawata, Chiba Prefecture. By incorporating connections to the black pine trees, sky, and greenery that remain around the site, while varying the floor-to-floor heights, the house creates visual connections and a three-dimensional sense of depth. The plan, with two entrances to each room, achieves free-flowing movement without dead ends. As the spaces flow continuously into one another, it brings a natural sense of expansiveness and a comfortable fluidity to everyday life.

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.

House with a Courtyard for Living with Cats Archiplace

A dwelling for a couple engaged in manufacturing who are cat lovers, and their young child. Under the theme “a comfortable house in which one can truly relax,” the project was carefully planned by reading the conditions of a newly developed residential district. By arranging the building in a U-shape to enclose a courtyard on the east side, privacy is secured while natural light and cross-ventilation are drawn deep into the interior of the house. In addition, gently zoning separate spaces for people and for the cat creates an environment in which both can live comfortably and without stress. It is a home where the family and their beloved cat cultivate tranquil time together.