They do say that opposites attract and in the Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft the happy marriage of the old and traditional with the new and contemporary is a perfect example.

The restoration and reinvention of the museum by Adam Richards Architects has been highly acclaimed and has garnered a fistful of awards, the latest being the Arnold Laver Gold Award and the Existing Building Awards at the 2014 Wood Awards (TTJ December 2014). Other plaudits include a RIBA National Award and being named RIBA South East Building of the Year.

The museum, in the pretty village of Ditchling, which nestles in the rolling countryside of the South Downs National Park, was created in 1985 to honour the work of a group of arts and crafts luminaries who had gravitated to the village in the early 20th century.

These included Eric Gill, a sculptor and typographer (his Gill Sans typeface is still widely used today) and graphic designer Edward Johnson, perhaps best known for his sans serif typeface on the iconic London Underground map.

By 2010 the fabric of the museum had deteriorated and it was also largely obscured by two old agricultural buildings which had sprung up during a period when the current village green had been a farmyard.

Heritage lottery funding was secured and Adam Richards Architects was commissioned to restore and update the museum.

The practice took an entirely holistic approach to the museum, incorporating not just the design of the structure in its plans but also the way in which the exhibits would be displayed.

It also chose to refurbish one of the old farm buildings – an 18th century Cart Lodge – linking it via two new buildings to the refurbished museum galleries.

The Cart Lodge now forms the entrance to the museum and is referred to by the architect as its "first exhibit" – in fact the elements of the structure are numbered, as in a technical drawing, giving visitors the feeling they are actually inside an exhibit.

As the Cart Lodge comprised oak trusses, brick/flint walls and an earth floor and as it was Grade II listed, as much of the original fabric as possible had to be retained.

The roof was removed and the oak stick frame structure was covered with a plywood box to stabilise it. Where the oak couldn’t be saved it was replaced with seasoned oak to match the existing timber. In addition, reclaimed oak from the site was used wherever possible.

The walls were insulated and clad with horizontal oak featheredge weatherboarding.

Two new buildings – the Link and the Introductory Room – now link this entrance with the rest of the museum.

It’s here that contemporary design and materials really take pride of place as both are constructed of cross-laminated timber (CLT), chosen for its "structural honesty" and for its ability to proved large unobstructed volumes.

The buildings are clad on the exterior with hand-made tiles and black zinc sheet and are supported on a base of glazed black brick. This principle of a timber building sitting on a masonry base is a contemporary reinterpretation of the Cart Lodge, said the architects.

The CLT panels are left exposed internally The solution blends traditional and contemporary and their size and structural integrity is "celebrated" in the detailing. Every opening through the CLT reveals it thickness and hand-crafted chamfers to the edges delineate each panel.

The CLT was manufactured in Austria by KLH (supplied by KLH UK Ltd) using kiln dried finger-jointed spruce and, as it was being left exposed internally, the grain direction and finish had to be carefully considered.

Continuing the theme, CLT also features in the Cart Lodge building where offcuts of the engineered timber have been used to make the ticket desk, café bar and shop display units – old and new sitting comfortably side by side.

In the Introductory Room a contemporary take on a "cabinet of curiosities", which acts as an introduction to the main exhibition, is also made from CLT.

All timber used was FSC certified and the build hit the budget at £1,900/m2 – an achievement, said the architect, given the "intense level of attention to detail".