This work explores the adaptive reuse of Oakhurst Worker Cottages, Derbyshire, following an in-depth exploration of the ruin’s sense of place.

This project turns the invisible visible and imprints the negative spaces into a new architecture within the vessel of the ruins.

The client is a co-living community of two families that have decided to embark post-pandemic to renew their lifestlyes for a sustainable, minimalist, off-grid adventure. Materials are explored to further enhance the quality of space as well as capturing stories of the past, present and future.

This project has challenged typical dwelling accommodation to provide a collective of private, semi-shared and shared spaces, strongly informed by the occupations and desires of the co-living communities wants and needs. The architecture responds to the history of the cottages as well as the landscape, offsetting a grid around mature trees found on site.