Introducing Multiple Living Spaces That Evoke a Sense of Family, a custom-built home example by Mitsuhiro Kojima Architects, a Architect / Design office in 426-1-101 Higashisin-machi, Ota City, Gunma Prefecture

This residence values places where each family member can feel comfortable while sharing the same time together. Rather than relying on special staging or ornamentation, we aimed to make the family's everyday life itself a beautiful landscape through the way light enters, the sightlines, and the tactile qualities of materials.

The plan is organized around a single enclosed lawned garden, with the living spaces radiating outward. By establishing continuity from interior to semi-outdoor and then to exterior spaces, occupants can choose their connection to nature and their place according to the moment and their comfort. They may bring a chair out onto the terrace to read, immerse themselves in gardening, or sit on the terrace to gaze at the expansive sky when tired from work. Such everyday scenes can be perceived from various rooms, and the presence of daily life gently permeates the entire house.

Children study at the large dining table and, when they need to concentrate more, they move to the adjacent open study fitted with bookshelves. This provides an appropriate distance where they can feel the mother's presence while engaging with themselves. Sometimes they separate slightly from the family to enjoy games with siblings or friends in a hobby space above the living room, or retreat to private rooms when they want to be alone. The connections between spaces are carefully planned so that the children's moods and conditions can be sensed from anywhere.

In the cold season, a wood-burning stove becomes the heart of daily life and modulates the atmosphere of living. We installed a double-sided glazed wood-burning stove so the flames can be viewed from the living room, the dining kitchen, and the garden. The flicker of the flames and the crackle of the logs bring stillness and soft shadows to the spaces, gently easing everyday fatigue. While individual places expand, the house naturally retains a single focal center.

When it warms, a gentle breeze passes through the lawned garden via louvers facing the street. For barbecues, opening the louvers connects the garden with the garage and the forecourt in front of it, creating a generous outdoor area that can be used integrally even when many friends gather.

Here the residence takes form as a home where family members spend their own time under the same roof while remaining aware of one another's presence.