Fujiwara-Muro Architects
Shintaro Fujiwara & Yoshio Muro · Osaka, est. 2002
Founded in Osaka in 2002 by Shintaro Fujiwara and Yoshio Muro, who met as university classmates and have built together ever since. Across more than two hundred projects, they have become known for houses that turn a tight site or a fine outlook into the heart of the design.
Founders
Shintaro Fujiwara & Yoshio Muro
Based In
Osaka, since 2002
Recent Honor
4th best firm in Japan, Architizer 2025
The Approach
01 / Recurring ideas in the work
Space as scenery
I.
The view comes first
Their guiding idea, which they call the great view, runs in a chain: architecture makes space, space frames scenery, and scenery becomes experience and memory. The house is built to hold a view worth remembering.
II.
Never quite finished
A building can be completed, they say, but the space inside it cannot. The scenery a room frames shifts with people, time, and nature, so they design for that living, changing quality rather than a single fixed picture.
Selected works
02 / Seven key projects
House
Osaka
House in Toyonaka
A reinforced-concrete house in Osaka and the practice's most decorated work. It won the LEAF Awards 2019 in London for best single-occupancy residential building and was published in GA Houses 164.
Type
House
Structure
Reinforced concrete
Location
Osaka
House
Osaka
House in Tsurumi-ku
A timber house in a dense Osaka neighbourhood. To protect privacy, it blocks the surrounding sightlines and breaks its volume into smaller parts, giving the street a sculptural façade.
Type
House
Structure
Wood frame
Location
Osaka
House
Tokushima
Single-storey House in Naruto
A single-storey house in Naruto that opens wide to a pool and the landscape beyond, a clear expression of the practice's interest in framing the view from a low, horizontal home.
Type
House, single storey
Feature
Large opening to a pool
Location
Tokushima
Office & showroom
Kyoto
KKDC Japan
An office and showroom in Kyoto built as three white boxes stacked with a front-to-back offset. Lines of light slip from the gaps between them, while glass openings reveal the office, the showroom, and a circular light within.
Type
Office and showroom
Form
Three stacked volumes
Location
Kyoto
Garage house
Osaka
Garage House with Car Lift
A steel, three-storey house in Osaka where a glass-enclosed car lift puts the car on display beside a see-through staircase and a full wall of open shelving.
Type
Garage house
Structure
Steel, 3 floors
Location
Osaka
House
Nara
House in Nishinokyo
A two-storey timber house in Nara, in a scenic-preservation district. Its roof follows the district's rules, and openings are kept few and deliberate to shield the rooms inside from the street.
Type
House
Structure
Wood frame, 2 floors
Location
Nara
House
Osaka
Single-storey House in Minoh-shinmachi
A single-storey house near Minoh where free-standing concrete walls rise from a bed of crushed stone and planting. Behind them sits a low white house with exposed wooden beams, framed by sky and mountains.
Type
House, single storey
Structure
Reinforced concrete
Location
Osaka
Project index
03 / Built works
A selection of completed projects as listed by FujiwaraMuro Architects, drawn from more than two hundred built across Japan. Mostly houses, with a number of shops, offices, and renovations.
Houses
OsakaHouse in Toyonaka
OsakaHouse in Ishikiri
OsakaHouse in Tsurumi-ku
OsakaGarage House in Kaizuka
OsakaHouse in Minami-Senri
OsakaKomyoike Court House
OsakaHouse in Minoh
OsakaHouse in Minamikawachi
OsakaCourt House in Kawachinagano
OsakaHouse in Kawachinagano
OsakaHouse in Fujiidera
OsakaHouse in Uenoshiba
OsakaHouse in Showacho
OsakaHouse in Minami-Tanabe
OsakaHouse in Hirano
OsakaPolygon House in Hokusetsu
OsakaGarage House with Car Lift
OsakaHouse in Minoh-shinmachi
OsakaHouse in Fuminosato
OsakaHouse in Kita-Takatsuki
OsakaGarage House in Neyagawa
OsakaHouse for Three Households
HyogoHouse in Kobe-kita
HyogoHouse in Himeji
HyogoHouse with a Light Void
HyogoTiny House in Kobe
HyogoHouse in Okamoto
HyogoHouse in Koshien
HyogoHouse in Inagawa
HyogoSunroom House in Tsukaguchi
NaraHouse in Sekiya
NaraHouse in Nishinokyo
KyotoHouse in Muko
MieGarage House in Nabari
KagawaGarage House in Takamatsu
TokushimaSingle-storey House in Naruto
TokushimaHouse in Tokushima
TokushimaSingle-storey House in Hanoura
TokushimaAizumi BASE
HiroshimaSingle-storey House in Mukainada
GunmaSingle-storey House in Maebashi
KanagawaHouse in Hayama
KanagawaHouse in Sasame
NaganoHouse in Karuizawa
SaitamaHouse in Tokorozawa
TokyoHouse in Machida
ShigaHouse in Kosai
Shops, offices & renovations
KyotoKKDC Japan, office and showroom
OsakaFlat Horie, apparel shop
OsakaHouse and Office in Hokusetsu
OsakaOffice Renovation in Chuo-ku
OsakaHouse Renovation in Suita
OsakaNanae, apartments and lodging
TokyoPrivate Lodging in Minato-ku
Recognition
04 / Honors & media
Ranked 4th best architecture firm in Japan, Architizer
2025
Ranked 6th best architecture firm in Japan, Archello
2025
LEAF Awards, Best Residential Building, Single Occupancy (London), for House in Toyonaka
2019
Published in GA Houses 164
2019
Published in Modern Living No. 241
2018
Featured in Dwell magazine, for House in Hirano
2025
Monograph, FujiwaraMuro Architects works collection
2022
Architecture creates space, space creates scenery, and scenery creates experience and memory.
FujiwaraMuro Architects
Profile 04 / 04 · FujiwaraMuro Architects
Project names, types, locations and awards are drawn from FujiwaraMuro Architects official site (https://aplan.jp/)
Fujiwara-Muro Architects
Shintaro Fujiwara & Yoshio Muro · Osaka, est. 2002
Founded in Osaka in 2002 by Shintaro Fujiwara and Yoshio Muro, who met as university classmates and have built together ever since. Across more than two hundred projects, they have become known for houses that turn a tight site or a fine outlook into the heart of the design.
Founders
Shintaro Fujiwara & Yoshio Muro
Based In
Osaka, since 2002
Recent Honor
4th best firm in Japan, Architizer 2025
01 / Recurring ideas in the work
The Approach
Space as scenery...
I.
The view comes first
Their guiding idea, which they call the great view, runs in a chain: architecture makes space, space frames scenery, and scenery becomes experience and memory. The house is built to hold a view worth remembering.
II.
Never quite finished
A building can be completed, they say, but the space inside it cannot. The scenery a room frames shifts with people, time, and nature, so they design for that living, changing quality rather than a single fixed picture.
02 / Seven key projects
Selected works
House
Osaka
House in Toyonaka
A reinforced-concrete house in Osaka and the practice's most decorated work. It won the LEAF Awards 2019 in London for best single-occupancy residential building and was published in GA Houses 164.
Type
House
Structure
Reinforced concrete
Location
Osaka
House
Osaka
House in Tsurumi-ku
A timber house in a dense Osaka neighbourhood. To protect privacy, it blocks the surrounding sightlines and breaks its volume into smaller parts, giving the street a sculptural façade.
Type
House
Structure
Wood frame
Location
Osaka
House
Tokushima
Single-storey House in Naruto
A single-storey house in Naruto that opens wide to a pool and the landscape beyond, a clear expression of the practice's interest in framing the view from a low, horizontal home.
Type
House, single storey
Structure
Large opening to a pool
Location
Tokushima
Office & showroom
Kyoto
KKDC Japan
An office and showroom in Kyoto built as three white boxes stacked with a front-to-back offset. Lines of light slip from the gaps between them, while glass openings reveal the office, the showroom, and a circular light within.
Type
Office and showroom
Structure
Three stacked volumes
Location
Kyoto
Garage house
Osaka
Garage House with Car Lift
A steel, three-storey house in Osaka where a glass-enclosed car lift puts the car on display beside a see-through staircase and a full wall of open shelving.
Type
Garage house
Structure
Steel, 3 floors
Location
Osaka
House
Nara
House in Nishinokyo
A two-storey timber house in Nara, in a scenic-preservation district. Its roof follows the district's rules, and openings are kept few and deliberate to shield the rooms inside from the street.
Type
House
Structure
Wood frame, 2 floors
Location
Nara
House
Osaka
Single-storey House in Minoh-shinmachi
A single-storey house near Minoh where free-standing concrete walls rise from a bed of crushed stone and planting. Behind them sits a low white house with exposed wooden beams, framed by sky and mountains.
Type
House, single storey
Structure
Reinforced concrete
Location
Osaka
03 / Completed works
Project index
A selection of completed projects as listed by Horibe Associates. Most are private houses across the Kansai region and Tokushima, alongside number of public and cultural buildings.
Houses
OsakaHouse in Toyonaka
OsakaHouse in Ishikiri
OsakaHouse in Tsurumi-ku
OsakaGarage House in Kaizuka
OsakaHouse in Minami-Senri
OsakaKomyoike Court House
OsakaHouse in Minoh
OsakaHouse in Minamikawachi
OsakaCourt House in Kawachinagano
OsakaHouse in Kawachinagano
OsakaHouse in Fujiidera
OsakaHouse in Uenoshiba
OsakaHouse in Showacho
OsakaHouse in Minami-Tanabe
OsakaHouse in Hirano
OsakaPolygon House in Hokusetsu
OsakaGarage House with Car Lift
OsakaHouse in Minoh-shinmachi
OsakaHouse in Fuminosato
OsakaHouse in Kita-Takatsuki
OsakaGarage House in Neyagawa
OsakaHouse for Three Households
HyogoHouse in Kobe-kita
HyogoHouse in Himeji
HyogoHouse with a Light Void
HyogoTiny House in Kobe
HyogoHouse in Okamoto
HyogoHouse in Koshien
HyogoHouse in Inagawa
HyogoSunroom House in Tsukaguchi
NaraHouse in Sekiya
NaraHouse in Nishinokyo
KyotoHouse in Muko
MieGarage House in Nabari
KagawaGarage House in Takamatsu
TokushimaSingle-storey House in Naruto
TokushimaHouse in Tokushima
TokushimaSingle-storey House in Hanoura
TokushimaAizumi BASE
HiroshimaSingle-storey House in Mukainada
GunmaSingle-storey House in Maebashi
KanagawaHouse in Hayama
KanagawaHouse in Sasame
NaganoHouse in Karuizawa
SaitamaHouse in Tokorozawa
TokyoHouse in Machida
ShigaHouse in Kosai
Shops, offices & renovations
KyotoKKDC Japan, office and showroom
OsakaFlat Horie, apparel shop
OsakaHouse and Office in Hokusetsu
OsakaOffice Renovation in Chuo-ku
OsakaHouse Renovation in Suita
OsakaNanae, apartments and lodging
TokyoPrivate Lodging in Minato-ku
