House with Exposed Beams｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices18Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

Beams appearing when looking up at a ceiling in a home are originally structural members meant to support the building. However, in a home with exposed beams, their presence becomes an important element creating spatial individuality. The powerful texture and three-dimensional configuration of wood generate rich expressions indoors, significantly altering the overall impression of the residence. Particularly when combined with double-height voids or sloped ceilings, sightlines expand upward, sometimes evoking a sense of openness exceeding the actual square footage. Moreover, depending on how beams are displayed and the types of wood used, the atmosphere can range from rustic to refined. The charm born from revealing structure without concealment can be said to be an expression unique to architecture. Through real examples of custom homes by architectural firms, we introduce the roles exposed beams play within the home.

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 Tateyama Tada Architectural Design Office

This secondary residence is built within a Quasi‑National Park in Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture, for enjoying the sea and nature. Taking advantage of a fortunate setting with views to the horizon beyond a windbreak forest, the design adopts a disciplined composition with large openings oriented toward the sea and a restrained treatment on the side facing the neighboring house. A generous earthen‑floored space for fishing and a deep‑eaved engawa gently mediate between interior and exterior. Joinery allows flexible changes in the way spaces are used, and a distinctive roof structure gives the expansive interior its character. The pared‑down, minimal dwelling nurtures rich moments together with the sea breeze.

Residence Living with Weeping Cherry Trees Archiplace

A residence for three generations—a family of five—located in the hilly and upland interior of Hiroshima Prefecture, where gentle mountains and pastoral fields spread. In the garden is a large weeping cherry that, as a regional symbol, is loved by the family and neighbors; in the cherry season acquaintances and friends visit for viewing, hold banquets and stay overnight. How to incorporate, harmonize with, and pass on this cherry—which has witnessed the family's growth and life, connected people, and lived with the town's changes—into the new home became a major theme.

House in Takao Mochizuki Architectural Atelier

The site is situated on the mountainside alongside a clear stream flowing from Mount Takao, configured as a parcel extended from the road that runs along the river. Access to the site requires ascending approximately 30 steps; the position offers views of the Takao mountain range to the south and a shrine and bamboo grove to the north. The building plan is kinked in an elbow-shaped configuration to respond to the regulated area on the north side: the living room is located at the plan’s centroid, from which the dining area, kitchen, and private rooms are arranged. The section adopts a pitched roof aligned with the southward slope; spaces are articulated by a continuous ceiling formed by LVL (laminated veneer lumber) rafters and by changes in floor levels, creating a comfortable domestic environment. Because the approach ascends from below, resulting in views that look up at the house, particular attention was paid to the termination and soffit detailing of the eaves.

Higashiura House Kota Goto Architectural Studio

A residence sited in a longstanding residential neighborhood on the Chita Peninsula. The design gives form to the owner's wish for a living arrangement with a sunken kotatsu while valuing connections to the local community. By raising part of the living-room floor to create a sunken-kotatsu and offsetting southern sightlines from interior views, the scheme achieves both openness and privacy. The extensive use of solid cedar enriches the space as it matures. The house is designed to integrate gently with the surrounding streetscape and to grow alongside the local landscape.

Urata House Echizen Design Laboratory

This renovation of a traditional Japanese house re-edits the accumulated memories and layers of time inscribed in the site for contemporary life, while respecting their significance. New places to gather were created through the introduction of a void and a built-in sofa, while old fittings, furniture, window latticework, and other elements were skillfully regenerated. Existing light fixtures and fittings were also retained, connecting the history of the home to the future. In the space woven from new and old materials, the past, present, and future gently overlap, giving expression to the richness of a home that grows together with the family.

A Residence with a Wood-Burning Stove Tatsumi Negishi Architectural Studio

This is a rebuilding project in an area where, due to the elevated railway, a row of "north–south inverted" houses—gardens to the north and buildings pushed to the south—once stood. The previous residence required lighting even during the day and was cold in winter, so a bright, warm living environment was a strong requirement. Within a site of just under 30 tsubo, private spaces are efficiently consolidated while public spaces are afforded generous room. Because neighboring houses are close, soft daylight is introduced through clerestory windows, rooflights, and vertical slatted screens. The kitchen was custom-made by the owner and, though compact, functions efficiently, making daily cooking enjoyable.

Residence with an Atelier T-Architectural Studio

This is a private residence with an attached design atelier. Built on a site once familiar as a walking path, and intended to inherit the memory of a beach landscape cloaked in pine woods, its exterior walls are clad in thick timber. The timber is painted white to add softness, giving the house a presence that quietly blends into the surrounding environment. Internally, changes in floor and ceiling levels gently articulate the atelier, individual/private spaces, and shared areas. Lofts, a roof balcony, planted areas, and staircases create multi-layered spatial extensions between interior and exterior.

House of Linked Eaves — Built with Japanese Proportions and Materials Tokuhiro Norimatsu Architect

On rebuilding a house that had been lived in for many years, we began the design by carefully inheriting the time and memories the family had accumulated. Valuing the materials and artisans’ craftsmanship that have sustained Japanese residential culture—roof tiles, tatami, plasterwork, shōji and fusuma—we have created a living environment that responds to contemporary lifestyles. The comfortable sense of scale provided by traditional Japanese proportions and the warmth of natural materials produce spaces that are gently accommodating to the body. This is a home oriented toward future living, where nostalgia and newness coexist calmly.

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 Hirakata Kumi Inoue Architects

This is a two-family residence sited on an elevated site in Hirakata City. The parent household relocated to an annex, and a new home for the child household was planned on the former main-house site. With the theme of sharing the abundant greenery and views not only with the family but also with the neighborhood, a segmented composition combining volumes of varying scale was adopted. This generates a diverse range of expressions in the exterior spaces and cultivates a gentle connection with the street. From the open-plan living/dining/kitchen with large glazed openings one can enjoy verdant vistas, and the layout—allowing the parent household to move back and forth easily—carefully shapes a new spatial relationship between the two households.

Renovation of a 128-Year-Old Kominka JYU ARCHITECT

A 128-year-old kura attached to a kominka built in 1897 (Meiji 30) was renovated into a comfortable residence. Damaged beams and a leaning foundation were reinforced, and the heavy, difficult-to-operate entrance joinery was repaired and reused. By improving insulation and airtightness, the interior remains cool in summer and warm in winter. Existing floorboards were repurposed for kitchen surfaces, stairs, and counters, while some wall and ceiling finishes were executed by the residents themselves, retaining the building's memory and character.

House in Kotani Kurashi no Jōzōsho

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.

Revitalization of Prewar Rental Kyoto Townhouses | Row Houses on Showa Alley Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Associates

A prewar nagaya in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto was renovated into rental housing for families and the elderly. Surface layers were removed to reveal the characteristic machiya structure and the continuity between the tsubo-niwa and interior. The ground floor links two former tatami rooms into a central living space, integrating a mise-no-ma around the courtyard with a face-to-face kitchen. Flooring is 30 mm cedar planks; walls repaired with plaster and plywood; the ceiling exposes the second-floor rough decking. The second floor was repaired and received added insulation and a boat-bottom ceiling. Existing fittings were reused to the extent possible, respecting the grid plan.

House in Hamadera Coo Planning

This residence is located in a quiet residential neighborhood in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. While maximizing the greenery of the shrine to the south, the design aims for an expansive spatial quality reminiscent of a Parisian apartment. A three-dimensional composition of split-levels and high ceilings imparts a generous sense of openness to the home. Bookshelves fitted across the full extent of the east and west walls become the focal point of daily life, and light, breeze, and greenery entering through cross-mullioned windows and skylights enliven the spaces. Together with the textures of the materials, the house deepens in character as the family’s time accumulates.

House in Rikuzentakata ARCHIXXX Satoru Shinno Architectural Design

This project involves rebuilding a home with an attached stationery store in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, which suffered extensive damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake. By carefully interpreting the local climate, natural environment, and regional customs, we sought to create a home where the family could live with peace of mind while restoring even a small part of the former landscape. Looking ahead to the possibility of operating a general-goods shop based on their hobbies after retirement, the design incorporates a large earthen-floored space and a distinctive curved roof. It is a home that carries on memories of the past while nurturing the life to come.

Studio House in Zushi Takeshi Hirobe Architects

A home with a studio for a professional guitarist. Underground construction was avoided, while sound insulation was secured through a “box within a box” configuration, cellulose fiber, and vibration-isolating walls. Making use of the amount of wall on the first floor, the living functions were placed beneath a column-free, overarching roof on the second floor. In the powerful exposed structural frame, small openings, light from the skylights, and paths for the breeze create a rhythm of light and shade. A project that began with necessity has culminated in the primitive force of architecture.