Exterior Photo

What a difference a cleaned up driveway and [nearly] completed landscape makes! Great job team!

(Photo credited to Ken McCown-- follow along here)

it was all a dream.

Honestly, I’m not concerned about what people think of the chair bed in the Norris House. For me it was about the process. Claire and I worked hard on the design and completion of the furniture and managed to make a chair that works, but we struggled. Only through collaboration with Professor Stuth, Levi Hooten, Matt Hall, Sam Bouck, Chris Melander and Professor Rose was this possible. We all thought to make a chair that worked and looked good. We did it. We had a hard time doing it, but we did it.

Something I've discovered this semester is the art of working collaboratively. More importantly, working collaboratively on a design build project. A lot of my peers building the actual house could speak much more knowledgeably on the subject, but I was able to take a small part in the process. Designing this chair and subsequently building it has taught me that the most important thing to do is just that: do something. Oftentimes Claire and I would be talking about possibilities for the chair and throwing out ideas and were advised to try them. And we did. Mock ups of the give of plywood, hardware details and stain options. It all seems obvious now, and eventually, halfway through the semester we got it. Just do something.

So here’s to you, Norris, for dooming me to never want to work solely behind a computer screen again, for enjoying collaborative work, and for allowing me to learn more than I have to date in my college career.Thanks to Professor French, Professor Stuth, Sam, Levi, Matt, and everyone else who contributed to making the project possible, because sincerely, I’m grateful to have been a part, albeit small, of the project.

photo courtesy of ken mccown

Mini-Term, week 1 Recap

The New Norris mini-term course (5 days a week intensive course for 3 weeks) is under way and made considerable progress this past week.

On the bio-retention bed front, the five beds have now been planted full of native water loving goodness! The greywater bed is piped in, but can't be turned on until city ordinances allowing it have passed in June. The rainwater beds (beds 2-5) have all been planted, but won't be piped in until next week. Currently our rainwater is being diverted into a pile of gravel in the yard, but once the system is all put together all excess rainwater will eventually make it's way to through these beds!

The vegetable beds have also begun, though are progressing slower than expected. Thanks to Blake French for doing the primary excavating last weekend and to Mark Whitson (neighbor) for helping with manual excavation. We have dug quite a hole in the ground (to say the least) and the 200-gallon garden cistern fits perfectly. We are excited to see it put to use soon!

Many thanks to all parties involved! We solider on!

Open House: May 2011

This weekend our team hosted a "soft opening" of the New Norris House to celebrate the completion of major construction. There is lots more to do and details to resolve, but this event was a welcomed termination of two semesters of work by design|build studio/seminar participants.

Many parents, supporters, and community members were in attendance for this event and we look forward to hosting many more in the future.

Rainwater System

I am pleased to announce that our rainwater system, although dry as a bone currently, is physically in place. Many thanks to our sub-contractors with Scott's Plumbing who have been hard at work for the past 3 days to complete the installation.

Several items still remain to be completed, however, before we can start washing clothes and flushing toilets with reclaimed water. First, the gutters need to go on. Second, city ordinances still need to be officially adopted that make what we are doing legal in the City of Norris. And third, the system needs to be primed and commissioned!

We are estimating this work to be done by mid-June. The legal process to adopt new city ordinances requires several readings and subsequent approvals, as well as a final public hearing.

Installation in progress. Cistern [bottom left], pump and controller [middle], and filters [right]

Multiple water meters installed in-line will allow us to measure how much rainwater is used in the house and how much city water had to be supplied to supplement. Other important factors include total rainfall (used to calculate how much rain passed through the system and was diverted as storm-water), as well as the total city water use (to indicate how much water was used specifically by potable fixtures.

bed:chair::chair:bed

Tuesday Tour

This morning, Professor Stuth, Valerie Friedmann, and myself were joined by a group of representatives from the Tennessee Yards and Neighborhoods program. TYN is a task force, operating through the University of Tennessee Extension Service, whose mission is to "to help communities across the state meet their landscaping needs while also helping to conserve and protect our state's water resources." Their interest in the NNH project came as a result of Valerie's inquiries about rainwater and grey water processing to the Biosystems Engineering department. Dr. Andrea Ludwig, an Ecological Engineer and recent addition to the University staff, not only led us in the right direction with designing our rainwater and grey water beds, but also wanted to take an active role in promoting our project as a prime example of how the TYN program's mission could be utilized in a residential landscape. It is true to say that we love all of the interest and expertise we can get!

Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guests included Dr. Ludwig, Beth Babbit (state coordinator for the Tennessee Master Gardener's Program/urban horticulture specialist/old friend of mine), David Vandergriff (Knox County Extension Agent for Horticulture and Urban Forestry), and Ruth Ann Hanahan (Senior Research Associate for the Water Resources Center). All four visitors were pleased with our work, our methodologies, and our ecologically-sensitive approach, and thankfully, all four had a whole lot of insight and information to share. Tricia gave an exceptional introduction to the history of the Norris community, the events that led to the creation of the New Norris House, and the design features of the home itself. Valerie then discussed the layout of the landscape, covering in detail the design philosophy, usage of water on site, and the construction methodology. I gave an overview of the planting strategies for the infiltration beds, woodland edge, and lawn areas. We definitely received four thumbs up for our hard work to date, and laid the foundation for a working relationship of project promotion and information exchange!

The Tennessee Yards and Neighborhoods website:

http://tnyardsandneighborhoods.tennessee.edu/Pages/default.aspx

Dr. Andrea Ludwig and Valerie Friedmann review the landscape

construction drawings as I gaze into the distance and contemplate

my love of Little Bluestem, bacon, and intelligent women.