Skip Floor｜Custom-built homes by architecture firms9Picks｜Volumetric Richness Created by Level Differences

A split-level (skip-floor) configuration introduces intermediate floors between primary storeys, delivering three-dimensional connectivity and variation within a residence. By offsetting floors by half levels, sightlines extend through the interior while spaces are gently articulated, producing openness together with an appropriate degree of privacy. The voids and stepped areas that result can be efficiently programmed as storage, and when combined with vertical atria, daylight and air circulate volumetrically throughout the home. The vertical movement of children between levels also creates natural informal play spaces. Architectural firms carefully propose the potential of such three-dimensional dwellings, taking into account site topography and household composition.

The site is located approximately 2 km from Ōmiya Station in a Category I Low‑Rise Residential Zone. Because the area around Ōmiya Park is designated as a scenic guidance district within a protected landscape, the project was planned under conditions of a 40% building coverage ratio and reserving 10% of the site as green space. The square plan is shifted to the north, providing a garden and large openings to the south; the garden, positioned along the extension of the private access road, admits wind and light and incorporates the neighbouring property’s ginkgo as a borrowed view. A split‑level (skip‑floor) arrangement supplements usable floor area and connects a main volume with generous ceiling heights to a subordinate low‑ceiling volume in an open, integrated manner. By employing prefecture‑sourced Nishikawa cedar as both structural timber and finish material, the interior is kept free of excessive subdivision, preserving a sense of spatial continuity and a coherent material expression.

A residence sited within a housing district on the slopes of the Tama Hills. Making use of a plot that sits a half level below the street, two primary floor levels were arranged at the street and site elevations and linked by staggered split-level connections, creating an open spatial volume approximately 2.5 storeys in height. Each floor offers panoramic views across the town, while the upper levels afford vistas that convey a strong sense of the sky. The living room, which opens onto a garden set a half level below the road, provides an expansive yet private interior space.

This house is located on a hillside in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. Within an 8.1‑meter square house-form volume, four functionally distinct, smaller house-like volumes are arranged, creating a cruciform interstitial space with alley-like distortions between them. The spaces open and close while remaining continuous, generating diverse relational conditions for daily life. The exterior presents an abstract house form clad in the tactile, representational texture of charred cedar, while the interior, despite a complex skip-floor configuration, is conceived as a simple white cube.

Located in a residential neighborhood of Asahi Ward, Osaka, the house occupies a site that faces neighboring properties on all sides except the street frontage. With houses also lining the opposite side of the road, the design intentionally omits openings on the primary elevation. The exterior is clad in black Galvalume steel sheeting, executed in a long-run single-seam profile. Viewed through a steel sliding entrance door, the interior—centred on larch plywood—presents a contrasting palette, its character animated by varying expressions of natural light.

This residence serves as the couple’s final home after childrearing, designed for them to cherish everyday living. The second floor, which forms the core of daily life, arranges the living and dining spaces around a southeast-facing terrace. The terrace, enclosed by roof and walls, functions as a semi-outdoor space that shields views from the outside while allowing occupants to remain close to nature. A music room on the first floor gives rise to changes in floor level, a double-height void, and an observation terrace, which together introduce spatial diversity and continuity in this three-story timber-framed house.

This compact live–work residence was designed within a scenic preservation district along the Tamagawa Aqueduct. A single, high‑ceilinged, open‑plan volume is organized as a skip‑floor composed of three staggered levels of differing heights — an earthen‑floored entry with underfloor storage, a living/dining/kitchen (LDK), and a small raised platform — creating visually concealed boundaries between each partner’s workspaces and private domains. From the LDK, set a half‑level above, one looks down onto an inner courtyard enclosed by the earthen‑floored area and a timber board fence; this arrangement screens the interior from external sightlines while preserving views toward the natural landscape along the aqueduct.

This garage house is planned for a corner lot of approximately 30 tsubo (about 99 m²). A split-level (skip-floor) arrangement that leverages the site’s level differences mitigates moisture and water ingress from the culvert beneath the sidewalk while creating a variety of interior spaces. The program includes a well-lit covered garage, a living room with a sloped ceiling, a dining area with generous ceiling height oriented to frame views of a specimen tree, an all‑stainless‑steel kitchen with a large-capacity pantry, a bright semi‑basement children’s room, a sewing atelier, and dedicated storage for road bicycles. The building attains thermal insulation performance equivalent to Grade 5 or higher and is equipped with a seismic‑damping structural system.

A residence located in a residential neighborhood in Ikuno Ward, Osaka. Street-facing openings are minimized, with a plan that admits daylight and breezes from above the central staircase. East–west skip floors introduce level changes whose gaps allow air and light to circulate. In winter, warm air beneath the floor is circulated via the staircase to moderate the interior environment. The garage and the earthen entry (doma) are configured as an integrated space that screens views from the exterior, creating a calm dwelling that harmonizes with existing reclaimed-wood furniture.

An offset skip‑floor residence arranged in half‑level increments to respond to the site's topographical variations. Vertical, horizontal and diagonal spatial relationships, together with a double‑height void, gently interconnect the family's living areas. A tea room is positioned on the ground floor as part of the entrance; built‑in bookshelves are provided on the living room wall; and a staircase establishes a circulation path to the roof.