House with a Spiral Staircase｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices10Picks Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department

Staircases connect upper and lower floors, yet they also heavily influence spatial impressions inside a home. Among them, spiral stairs link floors within limited footprints while serving as architectural elements imparting characteristic expressions to residences. Ascending in curved forms, they draw the eye, generating spatial expansiveness and verticality when combined with double-height voids or living rooms. Depending on materials and shapes, they impart lightweight or weighty impressions, linking deeply to overall ambiance creation. Frequently planned as central components configuring space rather than mere circulation equipment, spiral staircases become architectural charms and parts of domestic scenery. Through custom-built examples by architectural firms, we examine spaces generated by spiral staircases in residences.

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.

harmony *studioLOOP Architects

Built on a site facing a busy road, this residence was planned to accommodate a four-car garage, a large terrace, and a high degree of privacy. By drawing the garage into the interior of the building, the design provides safe and spacious vehicle access. The large terrace adjoining the second-floor living-dining-kitchen area is enclosed by louvers, softly screening views from outside while allowing light and air to enter. By richly designing not only the living spaces but also the areas of openness represented by the garage and terrace, the residence achieves both a refined exterior and an urban lifestyle.

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.

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.

The Form of the Wind Mitsuhiro Kojima Architects

This is a residence in Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, known as one of Japan’s hottest regions. Responding to the client’s desire to live comfortably without relying on air conditioning, we reinterpreted the wisdom of traditional Japanese houses in a contemporary way. We carefully analyzed wind patterns, ground heat, and seasonal solar exposure, and constructed an environment that harnesses natural forces. Furthermore, by manipulating ceiling slopes, changes in floor level, and wall heights, we skillfully control sightlines to reconcile a sense of openness with privacy. Even now, after three summers since completion, no air-conditioning has been installed, and the house affords comfortable living while allowing residents to feel the passage of the seasons.

SAKURA House Kumi Inoue Architects

This residence was conceived to celebrate the borrowed-scenery of nearby cherry trees. Primary living spaces are located on the second floor; a louvered screen that envelops the living room mitigates external sightlines while elegantly framing the cherry blossom vista. The louvers’ angles have been calibrated to best showcase the blossoms and to provide effective solar shading, creating an interior environment with reduced direct sunlight and enhanced comfort.

House in the Northern District Abax Architects

This residence is a conversion of an office building. The temple across the site is incorporated as borrowed scenery from the living room, bringing a rich sense of extension to everyday life. However, because a cemetery and overhead wires enter the view at the windows, a conservatory is inserted between them to softly buffer sightlines and modulate the spatial relationship with the exterior environment. It is a high-quality living space carefully crafted together with a client with refined design sensibility.

Two-Generation Courtyard House on a Narrow Irregular Lot Archiplace

A fully separated two-family residence located in a densely built residential area of the city center. Given the condition of an elongated, irregularly shaped site surrounded by buildings on three sides, a courtyard and deck terrace are placed on the southwest side—the only side with an unobstructed view. By designing it as a three-story timber-framed courtyard house, an open living environment that admits natural light and natural ventilation is achieved while screening sightlines from the surroundings. The home accommodates a dual-income couple who enjoy music and an aunt who lives with a beloved cat; it respects each household’s way of life while enabling occupants to feel close to nature within the urban context.

Garage House in Nishiokamoto In-Ex Design Co., Ltd.

Set on the hills of Kobe, this residence proposes a way of living largely resolved on a single level, allowing occupants to enjoy both the panorama that stretches from the sea to the urban area and their automobile simultaneously. The living-dining space is positioned between the view and the garage, and the plan is an expansive arrangement that functionally connects the master bedroom and the wet areas. Soft daylight reaches deep into the interior from high-side clerestory glazing in the atrium that envelopes the spiral staircase, creating brightness and a sense of openness. By skillfully providing a forecourt and a front court, the design secures privacy and security while realizing a pleasant living environment with natural cross-ventilation.

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.