Completed project: Architectural family house in Japanese style is finally built – the result is absolutely fantastic

15. June 2026
By Cecilie Martine Kristensen

When 150-year-old timber beams become modern architecture

The wood that once made up the traditional Kunitani House has now been given new life in Sou Shin – a newly built single-family home where Japanese craftsmanship, Design for Disassembly and modern Japandi architecture merge.

The result is a stylish, detailed and uncompromising building that shows how circular construction can combine aesthetics, quality and a lower climate footprint.

: ©Shotaro Kaide

: ©Shotaro Kaide

: ©Shotaro Kaide

: ©Shotaro Kaide

World-class recycled wood: From Kominka to modern Japandi housing

One of the most important principles of traditional Japanese wooden architecture is Design for Disassembly (DfD) – that is, buildings are designed to be disassembled and reassembled. The structures are assembled using advanced wooden joints without the use of nails, screws or steel. This makes them both beautiful, durable and very easy to recycle. Entire wooden structures can be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere – and both the materials and the embedded craftsmanship are preserved.

In collaboration with Sou Shin, a Japanese joinery company, the large wooden beams of the Kunitani house were marked and transported 100 km north to be reused in a modern single-family residential building.