Enter a
Multi-disciplinary design studio
The main part of the home, the cottage, follows a mirrored layout consisting of two bedrooms – each with en-suite bathrooms – on either side, a mud room, and an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area. Like many traditional farmhouses, each of these volumes opens onto a wraparound verandah, offering a full-circle connection to the landscape. The northwest shed has then been repurposed into a separate studio space for when guests come and stay. A carved-out, open-air fire-pit area acts as a common ground between the two buildings.
To address the clients’ aspiration for a modern farmhouse, Akin Atelier have used a rustic-infused palette for both the interiors and exterior of Little Cottage. Shed-like galvanised steel roofing has been paired with reclaimed blackbutt vertical cladding, cultivating a warm, textural facade. Inside, off-white walls, European oak flooring and Turco Argento limestone combine to form one coherent material language. “We’ve taken the elements of the traditional farmhouse and distilled them into a modern iteration through deliberate material application,” Akin Atelier founding director
Landscape architecture practice
Emerging as an exercise in restraint and replanning, Little Cottage represents Akin Atelier’s resolute approach to design and ability to produce firm – and sometimes even surprising – outcomes. “The cottage was initially intended only to be a guest or workers’ accommodation. However, we’ve seen the clients embrace it as their own, using it as a little escape from the city,” Kelvin reveals.
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