Wood knotholes are typically a sign of poverty in Japanese architecture, but ICADA has used them to create a unique lighting effect in Knothole House. More about ICADA intentionally puts holes in roof of small wooden house in Japan
Architect Takeshi Hosaka has built himself a micro home in Tokyo that has a total floor area of just 19 square metres and features a pair of curved roofs. More about Takeshi Hosaka designs tiny house in Tokyo with funnel-like roofs
Japanese architect Kouichi Kimura has completed a concrete house in Shiga, Japan, as a self-contained space that promotes serenity and silence. More about Kouichi Kimura builds fortress-like Tranquil House in Japan
A geometric pattern of square-shaped rooms connected by rhombus-shaped circulation areas forms House in Hokusetsu, Osaka, by Japanese firm Tato Architects. More about House in Hokusetsu by Tato Architects is designed as a labyrinth
Takashi Yamaguchi & Associates has completed Topological Folding House, a home formed of a continuous white strip that wraps around to form floors, ceilings and balconies. More about Takashi Yamaguchi & Associates designs house in Japan based on a Möbius loop
Japanese studio FujiwaraMuro Architects designed House in Toyonaka, Osaka, as a series of offset boxes with gaps between them that allow light and air to enter the house, while maintaining the occupants' privacy. More about House in Toyonaka embeds windows in gaps between monolithic grey boxes
We've updated our Pinterest board dedicated to the best Japanese houses, including a home on Okinawa Island with a metal-mesh canopy covered in plants and a house made up of spiralling platforms. Follow Dezeen on Pinterest ›
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Japanese studio Tato Architects has built a house in the town of Sonobe, Japan, with a sunroom that can be opened up to the garden by sliding open a huge corrugated polycarbonate wall. More about Huge sliding door reveals courtyard at House in Sonobe by Tato Architects
A windowless wall punctured by a giant void projects from this steel-clad Japanese house near Tokyo, creating a secret "exterior living room". More about Apollo Architects & Associates hides courtyard behind Cover House's metal facade
Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects has designed a house in Tokyo with a glazed ground floor to connect it to the surrounding tropical garden. More about Subtropical greenery surrounds cedar-clad Tokyo home
Japanese architect Katsutoshi Sasaki has built himself a new family home, featuring a dark-painted facade of red cedar and a bright, airy interior. More about Katsutoshi Sasaki's minimalist home contrasts a dark exterior with a light interior
Architecture studio Snark has completed a house in Maebashi, Japan, incorporating a solarium that the owner uses to grow plants. More about Snark's House in Nakauchi is half opaque home and half transparent sunroom
The living spaces in this house designed by Suppose Design Office in Higashihiroshima, Japan, are arranged around a dirt floor, which is a modern interpretation of a traditional doma. More about Suppose Design Office creates 21st-century take on traditional Japanese doma
Large eaves and a metal-mesh canopy that will eventually be covered with plants help to shade the interiors of this concrete house on Japan's Okinawa Island. More about Ryuichi Ashizawa uses traditional techniques to control climate at house on Okinawa Island
Large openings in the corrugated-metal facades of this boxy building in Shizuoka, Japan, frame views of the neighbourhood from a shop on the ground floor and residence above. More about Suzuki Architects combines a home and shop at Gré Square House
For this lakeside house in Japan, Tokyo-based studio Sugawaradaisuke used five interlocking levels to create multiple viewing platforms both inside and outside the property. More about Interlocking indoor and outdoor levels bring Japanese house close to nature
Japanese architect Makoto Suzuki has designed his own live-work space as a series of interlocking timber-clad buildings near Sapporo on Hokkaido island. More about Timber volumes form live-work spaces for artist and architect in rural Japan
Japanese studio Tato Architects designed the interior of this house in Osaka as a single room containing angular platforms that perform multiple functions and are connected by a spiralling sequence of wooden steps. More about Platforms function as tables and shelves inside Tato Architects' House in Miyamoto
A magazine paired Schemata Architects with the owners of this house in Miyazaki prefecture for a renovation project in which the Japanese studio has reconfigured the former factory space by creating a series of plywood-lined rooms. More about Schemata Architects adds sequence of plywood boxes to redefine spaces inside House in Nobeoka
This house in Japan's Tokushima prefecture appears as a nondescript industrial unit from the road, but inside architecture practice CAPD has hidden a bright, high-ceilinged family home. More about Deceptively industrial facade conceals bright contemporary home in Japan