Shigehara Honmachi House by Tomoaki Uno Architects

A Harmonious Cedar-Clad Family Home on a Sloped Site in Kariya, Japan

Located in the quiet residential neighborhood of Kariya, Japan, the Shigehara Honmachi House by renowned firm Tomoaki Uno Architects reinterprets the traditional Japanese timber home through a poetic dialogue between nature, materiality, and structure. Completed in 2023, this 78-square-meter residence responds elegantly to a challenging sloped topography, while offering a compact yet functional living environment for a young family of four.

Embracing the Slope: Architecture Rooted in Terrain

The site, with its steep gradient from north to south, inspired a unique spatial strategy. Facing the road at its highest point and descending into a sun-drenched garden below, the house is anchored gently into the land using pilotis—elevated columns that lift the structure and create a light footprint on the landscape. This not only preserves the natural flow of the site but also introduces a sheltered space beneath the home for outdoor storage, such as a surfboard, or future flexible use.

A Vertical Log Structure: Tradition Meets Innovation

The home’s architectural language is defined by a vertical log wall system, a contemporary take on traditional Japanese timber construction. Tomoaki Uno chose 9 cm square cedar posts, arranged in two parallel rows, to form thick, rhythmically spaced load-bearing walls. This structural approach improves thermal insulation, enhances waterproofing, and serves as a powerful visual statement both inside and out.

By exposing the structural system, the house blurs the boundary between construction and expression. The warmth and texture of natural cedar beams run through the entire residence, imbuing each room with a serene and tactile atmosphere.

Compact Living, Rich Spatial Experience

Despite its modest footprint, the Shigehara Honmachi House is thoughtfully programmed to support a growing family’s daily life. Living spaces are vertically stacked and integrated within the timber structure, maximizing the home’s limited footprint. Every element is purposefully designed—from the kitchen and dining area that open toward framed garden views, to the intimate lofted spaces tucked within the structural grid.

Careful attention has been paid to creating a sense of spaciousness through vertical height and material continuity, enhancing the lived experience within a relatively compact plan.

Harmony Through Material and Structure

At the heart of Uno’s design philosophy lies the concept of “waon” (和音)—translated as harmony. This architectural harmony emerges from the layering of material unity and structural diversity. By manipulating a single material—cedar wood—into multiple construction typologies (pilotis, log walls, beams), Uno creates a rich dialogue between different architectural systems while maintaining material coherence.

This poetic tension between sameness and difference, openness and enclosure, traditional craft and contemporary execution, lends the home its quiet yet powerful identity.

A Home for Living and Breathing

In addition to meeting the client’s brief—which included space for a wood-burning stove and a future-proof layout for children’s growth—the house also engages with deeper themes of time, seasonality, and sensory connection. The cedar will age beautifully, developing a patina that links the building to the rhythms of the environment, reinforcing its presence as both a shelter and a living object.

All the photographs are works of Nathanael Bennett