Simple Modern House｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices18Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

A simple modern home is a residence that values the beauty of the space itself while subduing excess ornamentation. Linear forms and clean configurations are cited as characteristics, but its charm lies beyond mere visual simplicity. By carefully organizing every individual element—such as light entry, unobstructed sightlines, and material combinations—a tranquil space is born. Furthermore, precisely because ornamentation is scarce, the scenery visible through windows and the presence of furniture stand out more prominently. The simpler a home appears, the more its underlying architectural philosophy and spatial configuration may significantly influence living comfort. In custom-built homes by architectural firms, we trace real examples to introduce how the theme of simple modern is expressed in forms and spaces.

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.

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.

House in Minamiashigara Tenkosha First-Class Architects Office

This is a residence for a young married couple and their two cats. In response to a newly reconfigured streetscape undergoing land readjustment, the composition is closed to the outside while opening inward. A U-shaped plan contains a courtyard with a "kakuremino" tree placed at its center, creating a gentle buffer from the street. A deck on the second floor provides separation from the surrounding environment while ensuring adequate daylighting. The interior is organized in a Japanese-modern style, prioritizing calmness and refinement rather than antiquarian qualities. It is a home whose character deepens with time.

Garage House in Yashio Atelier Cotocoto

Built on a residential lot surrounded on three sides by neighboring houses, this home is for a family of five. With the theme of reconciling privacy and a sense of openness, the ground floor contains an exposed cast‑in‑place concrete hobby space equipped with a motorcycle garage, and the second floor contains a generous living/dining/kitchen (LDK) wrapped in the warmth of wood. A central spiral staircase connects the spaces volumetrically, and light streaming from the toplight spreads throughout the residence. Although the plan provides no openings toward the street, a bright and expansive living environment is achieved through the careful layering of materials and the deliberate treatment of light.

Shift Block KICHI ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

At first glance, Shift Block’s exterior does not read as a timber structure; the design makes the second floor appear slightly tilted and perched above the ground floor. A tatami-floored Japanese-style room is oriented toward a private garden enclosed by walls. A diagonal staircase mediates vertical circulation, so that movement between levels alters sightlines and the perception of space, offering a spatially dynamic, three‑dimensional living experience.

Uchi no Uchi Mitsuhiro Kojima Architects

A residence inspired by an environment like a "blank" residual open space where the sky opens widely, located at the back of a densely built residential area. For a family of five who enjoy outdoor play, the aim was to create spaces that connect with the outdoors and the neighborhood while allowing family members to sense one another. Generous gardens are provided to the north and south of the building, and a multipurpose doma space with no predetermined use is positioned at the center. By gently connecting to the gardens and each room, it becomes a place where the family naturally gathers. In addition, by opening to the neighborhood while maintaining an appropriate distance from the road and adjacent properties, the design fosters opportunities for community interaction and simultaneously enhances the richness of both the dwelling and the street.

KATANA JYU ARCHITECT

An urban courtyard house that achieves approximately 35 tsubo of living space on a 25-tsubo site. By skillfully integrating a courtyard, an open-grid balcony, and a rooftop, it creates a generous sense of openness within a limited site. As a three-story timber structure employing certified fire-rated window sashes, the design pursues a fenestration strategy to secure light, ventilation, and privacy even in an environment surrounded by neighboring houses. A built-in garage for two vehicles and a motorcycle parking area, together with varied level differences and ceiling configurations, lend depth to the residence. Furthermore, equipped with high seismic performance and a seismic-damping structure, it provides a home suited for secure urban living.

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.

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.

Studio Apartment with Private Garden and Large Desk | D#102 Yoshihiro Yamamoto Architects Associates

This project is a comprehensive renovation of a 20-year-old, developer-built rental property. The studio unit was reconfigured into a simple, more spacious layout, with a long table—serving as kitchen, dining and desk—acting as the spatial focal point. The modular bathroom that previously faced the corridor was reworked during the equipment upgrade to provide a dedicated washbasin and dressing/laundry room. Finishes include solid oak plank flooring, a wood deck, mortar-finished floors, and site-fabricated timber joinery.

sha-la Tsukuba House e do design architects

This is a family residence planned on a 30-tsubo site in a residential neighborhood near Dōhō Park in Tsukuba. On the limited site, diagonal lines were introduced to reconcile a garage and a garden and to deftly guide light and sightlines. Two diagonal walls that give depth and character to the exterior, together with a spiral staircase that pierces the center of the house, create a rich sense of spatial expansiveness. With light delivered through a skylight and the staircase acting as the axis that connects the family’s presence, the dwelling unfolds into a refreshing, softly articulated home.

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.

there *studioLOOP Architects

This home for a couple and their three children richly embraces the family’s hobbies and individual places to be. Taking advantage of the view toward the Tone River embankment extending to the southwest, the LDK is positioned in the best location on the site. The wet areas, walk-in closet, entrance, and atelier are connected in an L-shaped configuration, creating a garden protected from the outside. A workspace, tatami area, and mortar-enclosed kitchen provide places for each family member to enjoy their own time, while a bookshelf that also serves as a staircase gently connects the LDK and workspace.

A Courtyard House That Embraces Light AtelierMA

This courtyard house achieves both tranquility and a sense of openness despite being located in a residential neighborhood. Mortar-finished walls enclosing the site gently screen views from outside while guiding natural light into the interior. The walls continue seamlessly from the courtyard into the house, creating rich patterns of light and shadow as they receive the changing light throughout the day. The living-dining-kitchen area opens broadly onto the courtyard, creating a configuration in which the interior and exterior are softly connected. Even in a densely built-up residential area, the house provides a tranquil place where the view extends upward toward the sky.

House in Minoh 3 Kumi Inoue Architects

A house on a flag lot. Surrounded by multi-family and detached houses, the building perimeter is organized as walls to respond to external sightlines. From the south, an outdoor terrace, a double-height living room, and the private rooms are arranged in sequence so that daylight reaches deep into the plan. The wall facing the terrace is landscaped, creating a rich, nature-infused atmosphere within a limited site; light, greenery, and quiet then spread throughout the house via the double-height space.

House in Hamura Mochizuki Architectural Atelier

The site is a corner lot in a suburban residential neighborhood, with a park resembling a copse extending to the east. The primary living spaces are located on the second floor; continuous openings from the kitchen through the dining to the living area capture borrowed views, while ceiling heights are varied. The living area is set one step higher and incorporates a built-in sofa and a study corner with expansive views. The exterior is characterized by a mono-pitched roof and horizontal windows, with a change in cladding between the upper and lower sections. The interior is unified in a calm, restrained palette.

Nishidaikaidō House Kota Goto Architectural Studio

A residence located in a housing area of Ichinomiya. The site faces a busy road and a kindergarten to the east, so it was necessary to moderate external views and environmental influences. By placing a substantial wall on the east and limiting openings, while arranging a central courtyard and a small interior courtyard, the design screens views from the outside while introducing nature into the house. The exterior presents a calm, reserved presence, whereas the interior opens up to garden-enclosed spaces. Strategically placed eaves attenuate solar gain and rain, and the living room enjoys an undisturbed view of the private courtyard, offering a resort-like comfort.

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.