木理の家
Yatomi, Japan
木理の家 is a single-storey house for a family of four in the suburbs of Yatomi, in Aichi Prefecture, designed and built by neie to a brief for a playful house with many places to be. The plan is simple, and the places come from varying the heights of ceilings and floors and the placing of walls; the ceiling is reed, ヨシ, laid in panels between timber battens, and the outside is vertical cedar boarding with cover battens against a rendered volume behind, traditional Japanese materials kept modern, neie says, by simple composition and detailing.
This window edge is planned like an engawa, the veranda of a traditional house: the sill is set at sitting height and the ceiling over it deliberately dropped, to tune the light and settle the space. In neie's own words, 「窓を開けて縁側のように座ることもでき、この家でもっとも居心地の良い特等席となっています。」: with the window open you can sit here as on an engawa, and it is the most comfortable seat in the house.
neie
neie is the housing brand of Horaguchi, a Nagoya company founded in 1924 with 168 staff, led by Toshiya Ogata. It designs and builds custom houses and renovations across Aichi, Gifu, Mie and Toyama from eight design studios, with eight model houses to visit.
neie (@neie_architects).
The picture comes from this post on Instagram, with more in a second post.
Researched September 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.