青山の家
Otsu, Japan
青山の家 is a new two storey timber house in the Aoyama district of Otsu, in Shiga Prefecture, finished in February 2025 for a couple with children on a corner site inside a quiet housing estate. Hearth Architects publishes it in Japanese only, as Aoyama no Ie, after the district it stands in. The clients are busy in work and in private life and asked for easy everyday circulation through the house and room to enjoy their hobbies at leisure on days off, so places for reading, the piano and a kitchen garden sit loosely around the living and dining space, each with its own spot while staying connected.
The near room, with the basin, is the entrance hall; the dining room and the stair lie beyond it. The practice matched the outside of the house to its quiet street, simple but standing with a quiet dignity, and planned it so the planting reads well; inside it raised the insulation, airtightness and security and looped the circulation, and the house is certified as 長期優良住宅, Japan's long-life quality housing standard. Nakao Kenchiku Sekkeisha engineered the structure and Yuta Yamada took the photograph.
Hearth Architects
Hearth Architects is Yoshitaka Kuga, a first class registered architect who founded the practice in 2016 and works from Koka in Shiga Prefecture.
Hearth Architects (@hearth_architects). Photography Yuta Yamada.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched September 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.