A Contemporary Home Grounded in the Arts and Crafts Movement – Orange Grove Cottage by CO-AP

Reinstating the original Arts and Crafts nuances of the home’s beginnings, Orange Grove Cottage sees the previously tired home enriched through injections of colour and textural materiality. CO-AP combines an understanding of both heritage and the contemporary condition to propose this warm and inviting abode.

A project many years in the making, Orange Grove Cottage is the result of layering in well-considered and crafted elements into an existing home to improve, contemporise, and reinstate the original key features. Through an understanding of the comprising styles and influences that gave birth to the home originally, CO-AP brings a fluency of context and an appreciation for the project’s inherent heritage and historical elements. Combining both the past and the present, the resulting home speaks to its previous form and its current and projected life with ease. The subtle interventions provide a sense of enrichment, executed through injections of bold colour and materiality, speaking to the client’s personality and the home’s origins in the Arts and Crafts movement.

Originally built in the 1920s, the traditional workers cottage is the product of its time – a practical and efficient utilisation of its small land mass, yet simultaneously fraught with challenges. Traditionally built on narrow allotments, homes of this typology lack natural light and access to outdoor spaces. Although not a priority of the time as urban residential areas were less densely populated, this view has sharply shifted and access to these vital elements is key to the successful contemporary residential condition. The connection and integration of the garden elements with the home and its residents was therefore key, and together with Bell Landscapes, over the years, the plantings have matured and filled out into lush offerings.

A project many years in the making, Orange Grove Cottage is the result of layering in well-considered and crafted elements into an existing home to improve, contemporise, and reinstate the original key features.

Built by Daran Building, together with Tasker Joinery, Orange Grove Cottage engages with its site and its landscape as a key feature. Providing both privacy and a living element within such a small and compact space, these green elements add a glimpse of the outside from within, and a relief from the compact living arrangement. The new works see the reinvigoration of the kitchen and bathroom with select materiality and fixtures that infuse the home with its own character. Drawing from the original Arts and Crafts elements, a sense of playful boldness is infused into each new detail. The contemporary elements sit comfortably next to the original heritage elements, both complementing the other instead of competing.

Built by Daran Building, together with Tasker Joinery, Orange Grove Cottage engages with its site and its landscape as a key feature.

Orange Grove Cottage carefully utilises its efficient floor plan and through a clever curation of new and reinstated elements, has unveiled a new life for the tired home. Working closely with the client, CO-AP has created a warm and inviting abode that makes the absolute most of its mere 88-square-metre footprint.

The connection and integration of the garden elements with the home and its residents was key, and together with Bell Landscapes, over the years, the plantings have matured and filled out into lush offerings.