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 House with Wooden Window Sashes
Tatsumi Negishi Architectural Studio
Tatsumi Negishi Architectural Studio

House with Wooden Window Sashes｜Custom Home Examples by Architectural Offices18Picks｜Warm Materiality

Author: Qurasuki Editorial Department
Windows are openings that bring light, breeze and views into the interior, and they are also a design element that strongly shapes a dwelling’s character. Compared with aluminum or uPVC frames, wooden window frames combine a warm, tactile material quality with superior thermal performance, and have long been employed in Northern European and Western residential traditions. The wood’s expression, which gains depth with the passage of time, imparts a richness of time to the home. At the same time, it is important to choose them with an understanding that periodic repainting and maintenance are required. Architectural practices plan openings that harmonize with the overall concept of the building by comprehensively assessing the performance, design and maintainability of wooden frames. Here we present examples of homes that embody a conscientious commitment to materiality.

House with Wooden Window Sashes

Tea House

Yoshihiro Ito Architect & Associates
This residence is located in a residential neighborhood near a major road. A courtyard brings light and air deep into the house while incorporating the greenery of the park extending along the street frontage. The spaces are gently divided with the eye level of floor seating in mind, while carefully designing the sense of distance between people, the wind, and furniture and other objects. Rather than clearly separating the spaces with walls, the house gives architectural form to invisible “intervals”—light, air, and subtle presence—creating a quiet sense of connection.

House in Toda

KASA ARCHITECTS
This house in Toda City, Saitama Prefecture responds to an environment of surrounding factories, warehouses, and heavy traffic by adopting a closed composition toward the street. An internal courtyard brings in daylight and natural ventilation while maintaining separation from the exterior, creating a calm residential environment. By engaging with its context, the dwelling produces a rich, inward‑focused living realm.

Residence in Ryugasaki

Naoko Matsumoto Architects & Associates
A residence centered on a single level that evokes a Japanese sensibility. Only the children's rooms are located on the second floor; deep eaves and a detached Japanese-style room create a composed presence. By incorporating multiple courtyards into the expansive plan, a rich environment is created in which light and air circulate to every corner of the home. The living room floor is slightly lowered to provide a place closer to the garden and earth. Conversely, the detached Japanese-style room is set at a height that overlooks the entire garden, fostering a feeling of connection between inside and outside.

Matsuyama–Edamatsu House

Masahiko Sawamura Architect and Associates
A generous resort house that takes advantage of the site's changes in elevation.

KMK

Takeshi Hirobe Architects
Built on an urban corner site, this home was planned as a courtyard house that gently connects the interior and exterior around a central courtyard. Large openings, a void, and continuous tiled flooring heighten the sense of openness, while fittings made with washi-paper mesh and white wall surfaces that softly receive light delicately adjust the home’s distance from nature. The generous first floor, where the family gathers, and the second floor, enveloped in tranquil light, are linked by gradations of light, creating a rich living environment in which nature can be felt close at hand despite its urban setting.

House in Tokushima — Parent Household: A Two-Generation Residence Connected by a Through Doma

Tokuhiro Norimatsu Architect
Centered on the “through-doma” — a passage-like earthen-floored space born from dialogue with the occupants — this house gently links the family’s daily life. The doma that leads to the younger household and the tatami room softens sound, heat, and light, serving as a buffer for a variety of living scenes. Furthermore, the eaves, engawa (veranda), and yukimi-shōji finely mediate the spatial relationship between garden and interior. Morning, midday, and evening light penetrating the raised clerestory roof changes its expression moment by moment, and the day unfolds as if following the light. It is a residence for quietly enjoying the shifting light and greenery and time with grandchildren and great‑grandchildren.

House in Endo

Kurashi no Jōzōsho
Responding to a site enclosed by residences on all sides, this dwelling brings light and greenery into a U‑shaped courtyard at its heart. Employing an east‑facing garden strategy to capture morning light from the east while securing daylighting from the south, the design achieves a sense of openness that belies its total floor area of 26 tsubo (approximately 86 m²). A deck level with the living room provides a pleasant, outward extension of the living space. Trees such as Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) and olive animate the seasons, completing a home in which the family can peacefully spend the years together.

Tsujido House

Takayoshi Nakamura Architects & Associates
Tsujido House is a residence in a residential neighborhood of Tsujido, where the double-height space and loft create a three-dimensional sense of spaciousness. With sightlines extending from the LDK to the second floor and loft, the compact home achieves a generous sense of openness. Light and air are drawn throughout the house, creating a comfortable living environment. Abundant wood lends warmth and softness to the interiors, while tile accents add a measured sense of refinement and tension, bringing together warmth and sophistication.

House in Ashiya

Abax Architects
This residence, located in an upscale residential neighborhood of Ashiya City, is a building with one basement level and two above‑ground timber-framed storeys. To secure the view from the living and dining areas, the first floor is raised approximately 1.5 m above the existing ground level, with a basement planned beneath. The volume facing the street features low eaves to reduce a sense of enclosure and present an elevation that sits gently within the streetscape. Two staggered volumes are linked by a stair core, creating a dynamic composition. A reflecting water basin is placed beyond the entrance hall, and the overall design evokes the calmness and richness of an Asian resort.

LOLO — Grand Prize, Kitchen Space Idea Design Contest

YIA Ishiue Yoshihiro Architectural Design Office
This residence is organized in a ring plan centered on a large central courtyard. The courtyard, enclosed by two-storey-high walls, screens views from the outside while channeling light and breeze deep into the interior. The living-dining area is nestled between a lush outer garden and a courtyard with a deck, creating a luxurious space where the changing seasons can be experienced up close. A corridor that circulates around the courtyard enriches everyday circulation with varied vistas and establishes a comfortable rhythm to daily life. The design also includes a bath court and a rooftop deck, achieving an open, nature-connected way of living throughout the home.

Residence with a Central Courtyard

Tatsumi Negishi Architectural Studio
A residence planned around a central courtyard, designed to be lived in harmony with nature. The layout ensures the presence of the signature tree can be perceived from any point within the house, and the greenery unfolding beyond the windows adds a tranquil accent to daily life. The garden views, which present different expressions depending on the vantage point, change with the passage of seasons and time, imparting a rich sense of depth to the dwelling. Within spaces where interior and exterior are gently connected, this is a quiet, comfortable home in which the nuances of the four seasons can be experienced close at hand.

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.

Kotonoha

Mitsuhiro Kojima Architects
This residence, built on a site surrounded by abundant trees, is themed around living in close harmony with nature. Evoking the scene of fallen leaves overlapping, four roof planes are brought together, under which the family’s living spaces unfold. The roofs gently envelop the spaces while, through gaps between walls and roofs, they direct sightlines and awareness toward the surrounding natural elements—trees, sky, and ground. By drawing the shifting qualities of light and breeze into everyday life and arranging spaces so occupants can perceive seasonal and temporal changes, the design achieves a rich living environment in which family and nature are calmly connected.

House in Tsujido Higashi Kaigan

Tada Architectural Design Office
Located on a flag lot a five-minute walk from the beach in Shonan–Kugenuma, this residence is for a couple and one child. Although originally planned as a two‑storey house, it was proposed as a small single‑story dwelling to prioritize a lifestyle that comfortably connects with the abundant natural surroundings. On the south side, the living room is equipped with large operable timber doors to draw the southerly breeze into the interior. Particular attention was paid to materials—solid Japanese chestnut flooring and a bathroom clad in Towada stone—while finishes were kept restrained to balance costs. The home provides a variety of everyday places, including a raised tatami platform and underfloor storage.

House in Yokohama

Mochizuki Architectural Atelier
The site is situated on a hill overlooking the city of Yokohama. The first floor accommodates a dining area opening onto a deck that leads to the garden, a carpeted corner living area, a piano alcove integrated into the stair space, and the sanitary/wet service areas. The second floor, connected by a double-height void, contains a bedroom and a child’s room with distant views of Mount Fuji. The interior palette comprises white-painted walls and pale-toned carpeting, with teak and lauan used for the woodwork, resulting in a crisp yet softly modern finish.

Sakura House on Awaji Island

Kumi Inoue Architects
A combined clinic and residence for a physician specializing in sports medicine, planned on a site surrounded by the abundant nature of Awaji Island's east coast. While enjoying views of Osaka Bay and the green mountains, consideration was also given to the natural environment, including wind, insects, and damage from wildlife. The three volumes—the residence, the clinic, and the bath—are arranged at differing heights and connected by a linear 'engawa'. The 'engawa' functions not merely as a corridor but as a place to engage with nature. Operable mesh screens reconcile ventilation with insect protection, creating comfortable spaces in which to enjoy the landscape. The residence is intended to serve as a base for fostering new connections with the local community.

truth

*studioLOOP Architects
On a narrow, elongated site in Tatebayashi measuring 10 m in frontage by 50 m in depth, we planned a home that makes use of the breeze flowing along the river to alleviate the summer heat. Large openings and a deck with deep eaves are provided on the eastern side, allowing air to pass through while blocking the sunlight and extending the living spaces outdoors. Wet areas and a private deck are arranged on the western side, while dry areas bring light and air into the rooms. The home also features an open-air bath, enabling its occupants to spend time freely while maintaining a comfortable sense of distance within the same space.

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.