The roof of this Japanese home by Y+M Design Office has been designed to hang like a shawl, drooping over the house to cover a terrace, tea room and carport (+ slideshow). More about Shawl House by Y+M Design Office has a roof that slopes down to shelter a tea room and terrace
The upper storey of this house in Kanagawa is supported by timber beams that extend from the outer walls towards an atrium that connects the two levels (+ slideshow). More about Snark and Ouvi's house for an illustrator features exposed wooden beams
The internal spaces of this house in the Japanese city of Ikoma are arranged around a full-height void that incorporates the staircase (+ slideshow). More about House in Ikoma has a central void that stretches all the way up to its pitched roof
The entrance to this white house by Osaka architecture studio IZUE is contained within a hole in the slatted wooden porch that frames a view through to the sea (+ slideshow). More about House on Awaji Island has a timber porch with a house-shaped entrance
The wooden frame of this two-storey family home in Japan's Shiga Prefecture is disguised by a layer of ridged steel panels (+ slideshow). More about Junichi Kato clads House in Shigaraki in dark brown-coated steel
Square concrete frames in different sizes create four layers of rooms for this house at the foot of Japan's Mount Rokkō by Y+M Design Office (+ slideshow). More about Slide House by Y+M Design Office comprises four layers of square concrete frames
Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka stripped away the walls of this inherited house in Tokyo, revealing an arrangement of timber columns that give the residence an unfinished appearance (+ slideshow). More about Jo Nagasaka knocks through the walls of a Tokyo house to reveal its aged structure
A corridor functions as an indoor garden for this small house in Toyota, Japan, above which architect Katsutoshi Sasaki has installed a series of wooden sleeping platforms. More about Katsutoshi Sasaki's House in Yamanote features sleeping platforms raised over an indoor terrace
A grid of near-identical doors and windows punctures all three visible facades of this seemingly cube-shaped house in Okinawa by architecture studio Rhythmdesign (+ slideshow). More about House in Tomigusuku by Rhythmdesign features 36 openings across three facades
A requirement for this house in Matsuyama, Japan, was for views of the city's summer firework display, so architect Teruki Takayoshi added a balcony, a roof terrace and a two-storey-high window (+ slideshow). More about Matsuyama house by TTArchitects features dedicated spaces for watching fireworks
Square and circular holes puncture the concrete facade of this house in Japan by Fuse Atelier, allowing light to filter through to five small terraces concealed behind (+ movie). More about Fuse Atelier's House in Tsudanuma brings light in through a perforated concrete facade
Japanese studio YUUA Architects & Associates has slotted a house into a 2.5-metre-wide space between two existing buildings in Tokyo. More about Rooms are less than two metres wide inside Tokyo house by YUUA Architects
A large roof overhangs the walls of this simple wooden house on Japan's Kanto Plain, offering residents shade during hot weather and shelter from rain showers (+ slideshow). More about Nobuo Araki creates simple house with overhanging eaves on Japan's largest plain
Arched doorways and shuttered windows give this Japanese residence by Takushu Arai the appearance of an oversized playhouse (+ slideshow). More about Arched openings cut through walls of Takushu Arai's steel-plated house in Yokohama
A spacious loft room bordered by a slender handrail is located beneath the steeply sloping wooden rafters of this Tokyo house by Apollo Architects & Associates (+ slideshow). More about Nord house by Apollo Architects boasts a spacious loft room for children to play in
Huge steel beams with I-shaped profiles were stacked to form the framework of this Tokyo house by Mount Fuji Architects Studio, which features a red spiral staircase winding between its floors (+ slideshow). More about Log Rhythm house revives old Japanese building technique using steel beams instead of wood
This raw concrete house in Tokyo was designed by Japanese firm Apollo Architects & Associates as a family home for a couple whose interests include contemporary art and cars (+ slideshow). More about Apollo Architects creates spaces for artwork and cars in raw concrete Grigio house
Photo essay: French photographer Jérémie Souteyrat trained himself to photograph architecture after moving to Tokyo, by hunting down and documenting some of the best private houses in his adopted city. More about Tokyo No Ie: Jérémie Souteyrat documents Tokyo's contemporary houses
Arched, rectangular and pentagonal doorways cut through the three bowed walls that frame the dining room of this apartment by MAMM Design on the outskirts of Tokyo (+ slideshow). More about MAMM Design adds curved walls and different-shaped doorways to a Japanese apartment
Japanese architect Yoshihiro Yamamoto has sandwiched a house with a width of just 3.4 metres between a pair of existing properties in Osaka (+ slideshow). More about Kakko House by Yoshihiro Yamamoto is a 3.4-metre-wide home in Japan