Commissioned in 2007 to design a 1000m2 house for our Client on a redundant farm yard site beyond the village of Baulking. The proposals illustrate the culmination of design development through consultation and collaboration, to produce a house that meets the tests required by the PPS7 guidelines for groundbreaking and innovative design. The site places the building in an isolated rural setting, visible from adjacent rights of way, with expansive views over the valley of the River Ock to the north. The proposed building has exceptional environmental and sustainability credentials, constructed from the industry leading Modcell system that uses compacted straw modular cells held within timber cassettes. At 0.13w/m2k, extremely high airtightness detailing and a time lag of 12 hours, we intend that the heating demand will be less than 20% of conventional homes. The building block, straw bale, in this project is grown on the land on which the site is sited and fabricated in a flying factory located in local redundant farm buildings. A renewable/conservation of energy applies a pragmatic system to the build, for which we aim to demonstrate an exemplar for cost effective rural (near arable land) house building solutions. The shallow depth and elongated plan shape wraps space around an entrance courtyard to promote opportunity for cross-ventilation, supplemented by passive vent stacks that induce airflow for every space in the building. Code level 6 for sustainable homes is achieved and a BREEAM rating of outstanding is targeted. The cedar shingle pitched roof continues a decision for lightweight structural timber frame, floors and cladding to maximise timber sequestration in the build and minimising foundation depths and material. Some thermal mass is achieved throughout the ground floor slab, finished as polished concrete and using the local Didcot Power Station's surplus pulverised fly ash for aggregate. Contemporary landscape design solutions are integrated with the design to form external domains that respond to the context of the setting of the house and strongly relate to the uses behind each elevation.