In 2014, IOA were commissioned by a long-standing client, the developer of Malthouse Hopyard, to put together proposals for a site next to Thanet Way in Kent. A brownfield site, it contained a number of unique design challenges, not least of which was the issue of noise next to such a major road. Our approach was thus – to design something so overwhelmingly that any difficulties were clearly outshone. We began by adopting a Passivhaus standard, as we currently do on most housing projects. We adopted a modern version of the local Kent vernacular. We provided a mix of house types and sizes. But most significantly, we undertook to add a significant amount of planting so that over time these houses would not be houses on a rural brownfield site but retreats in the woodland. This fitted into the local landscape which had many such micro-woodlands scattered amongst agricultural land. There are 14 houses in total, from 3-bed up to 5-bed. These houses were arranged in such a way that all of them opened up into a communal central woodland, a place for children to play and a community to be built. Every effort was made to eliminate obvious boundary conditions in the central space that would interfere with this sense of community, but all of the houses have their own private gardens too, which mostly back onto the site boundary. A key aspect of the woodland space was that roads needed to be eliminated too, at least in their typical form. A simple ring road serving the houses would instantly transform the site into a typical suburban development, and dominance would be given to vehicles. Instead, using subtly designed grasscrete routes, vehicular access blends with pedestrian movement. Noise was dealt with by means of a significant acoustic wall along Thanet Way, which will be embedded with planting to mitigate its visual impact. On the North boundary, we positioned 6 semi-detached units. These units were made semi-detached for Passivhaus efficiencies – a larger floor area to external envelope ratio. All of the other houses were large enough to work as detached units, and all followed a similar orientation and logical layout – a long linear living space along the south edge, opening up to south facing private gardens, while maintaining views through to entrances on the north side the look out into the communal woodland. This project has proven to be one of the most exciting and interesting that Inside Out have worked on to date, the project was granted planning permission by Swale Council on 5th November 2015. Special mention must be given to Anne of Landscape Perspective, who contributed significantly to the design and, hopefully, its ultimate success.