Sugi House, a timber family home in east Kyoto by Ujizono Architects

Sugi House starts from the ordinary. Kazuki Ujigawa and Mirai Ozono of Ujizono Architects took the pitched roof, timber frame and rectangular plan of a typical east Kyoto home and set out to rearrange them rather than reinvent them. Their argument, as they told Dezeen, is that newness in a house needn't mean a form nobody has seen before; small shifts in floor levels, curved walls, light and exposed structure can change how familiar rooms are lived in.

Those shifts begin at the door, where the cedar-clad upper floor juts out over the driveway to shelter the entrance. Downstairs is deliberately closed: a hallway linking three bedrooms and a bathroom. A stair at the back then lifts you into a single open living, kitchen and dining space beneath a gabled ceiling that glows like a lantern. Its clerestory windows bring in light without exposing the family to the houses pressed close on either side.

A curved timber form divides the tall living area from the lower kitchen and hides a ladder-like stair to a mezzanine, its curve echoed in the ceiling over the counters. Pale walls set off warm timber floors, furniture and sloping beams left bare. It's a private home, so this one is for reading, best enjoyed by anyone who likes quiet, carefully judged Japanese houses.

Our summary of a story from Dezeen, published 9 October 2026. Read the original

Photos: Dezeen · See all 6