Happy New Year!

The year 2011 is drawing to a close, and a short reflection back on our first few months in the New Norris House reveals what we learned and what happened during that time. Similar to any new residence, there was a period of familiarizing ourselves to the house and the systems inside it. Some things in the house were brand new to us (the heating and cooling units, the rainwater cisterns, the solar hot water, and the small refrigerator and freezer), while others were familiar but required an adjustment (low flow faucets and shower, cabinet and storage configurations, and the furniture).

rainwater cistern in backyard (on flickr)

The house was ready for occupancy on July 1, and the finishing touches were completed throughout July and August. We set up our post office box and internet service, and enjoyed meeting people who came by for house tours over the 4th of July weekend. Students wrapped up their work on the yard and rainwater garden, and seeded the lawn. Kinks with fluctuating water temperature in the shower were worked out, and the solar hot water heater was installed. Railings on the deck and entry were leveled and secured. Temperature and humidity sensors were installed throughout the house. We became familiar with the air conditioning unit manual as we figured out the ideal way to run the systems in the summer heat.

the house in december (on flickr)

The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the house was in August, and hundreds of people attended and toured the house. Also that month, there were multiple media events to promote the finished project within the Norris and Knoxville areas, and at the University of Tennessee as well. Professors Tricia Stuth and Bob French, along with the student researchers and other student participants, have been a pleasure to work with during this experience. We've appreciated their patience with us while we went through learning about the house.

In the next six months, we’re looking forward to some new activities, including starting a garden in the raised beds in the backyard and exploring more of the Norris area. Until then, we wish you a Happy New Year!

It's raining, it's pouring

The past few weeks have been busy with end of the semester activities—final papers, tests, and presentations. The fall semester is over and now it’s time to enjoy the break and the holidays before classes begin again in January. There’s no snow on the ground yet, and with a forecast of rain and temperatures in the low 50s for the next five days, no chance for a snowy Christmas this year.

Speaking of rain, this fall was especially rainy. Not only did we observe many days with rain, but I recorded rainfall in a rain gauge for my fall semester Bionformatics class (bioinformatics, also known as environmental informatics, includes the collecting, linking, storage, organization, analysis, delivery, and application of biological data and information). One of our projects required us to record rainfall at our residence on a daily basis, and at the end of the semester, prepare a report with rainfall data, analysis, metadata, a data management plan, and conclusions.

my rain gauge, holding 3" of rain; the student research self emptying bucket on pole 

I installed my rain gauge on the side of the electrical/garbage wooden enclosure. It’s a wedge shaped plastic gauge, and is easy to remove for readings. The student researchers are also monitoring rainfall, but they are using a self emptying bucket with a sensor that sends measurements electronically. Their white bucket is installed on the utility pole, and can be seen in the background.

The total number of days in my study was 85, and 28% of the days monitored received rainfall. September 5th, the first day of recorded rainfall, happened to be during Tropical Storm Lee, and 6.10” of rain fell that day. September topped out at 9.86”. October’s total was lower at 4.92”, but November had much more rain than usual at 9.06”. The chart below compares the rainfall I recorded to the monthly normals (30 year averages based on the period of 1971-2000).

In the course of the project, I discovered the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Region Precipitation website. The TVA has rain gauges throughout the region and uses the data to make water management decisions. I compared my data taken at the house with the measurements taken at the Norris Dam, and the rainfall amounts were very close.

In light of all the fall rain, the rainwater cistern for the house (it provides water for the clothes washer and toilet tank) was most likely never empty. It’s great to be living in a house where the rainwater is being reused and also in constant supply.

Phase IV Water Supply Sampling

After several months of research and continued efforts from TDEC and the college of Biosystems engineering we finally collected our first set of water supply samples! We have been working to create a custom list of contaminants to test for based on our source, rainwater, and our goal of providing results to TDEC that may lead to revised regulations concerning the potability of rainwater in Tennessee. On December 6 we met with Tony Wilkerson from the Norris Water Commission, and he guided us on the proper methods for collecting the samples. We were instructed to wear gloves when collecting the samples that will be used to test for bacteria. Furthermore, Tony showed us how to remove the fixtures from the faucets we were collecting water from. Bacteria and other contaminants may collect inside fixtures like faucet aerators and the vacuum breakers found on hose bibs. These fixtures must be removed and the water must be allowed to run for several minutes before the sample can be taken.

We removed the vacuum breaker from the hose bib before sampling.

We are testing water from 4 locations. The first location is untreated rainwater from the roof. Fortunately our first day of collecting coincided with a rain event, and we were able to collect roof water as it streamed out of the downspout.

Collecting a stream of rainwater from the roof.

The second location is the untreated rainwater that is stored in the cistern. We installed a valve to sample the water from this location.

Preparing to sample untreated rainwater from the cistern.

The third location we sampled is the treated rainwater from the hose bib. Finally, we sampled the municipal water supply from the bathroom sink.

The samples were clearly labeled and delivered to the UT Water Quality Lab.

The samples were taken to the UT lab for this first round of monthly testing. However, we will also have analysis performed by a state certified drinking water lab on a seasonal basis. By the end of 2012 we will have a detailed report to submit to TDEC on our pre- and post-treatment rainwater quality findings. Hopefully this could lead to a new, sustainable water source for Tennesseans.

Giving thanks

It’s a clear, crisp Thanksgiving Day in Norris. The rain from the first half of the week has moved on, leaving us with sunny skies today. Most of the trees have lost their leaves by now, and their branches fan out against the sky.

view of trees today while seated at kitchen table

On this day of giving thanks, we are thankful for the opportunity to experience living in the New Norris House. There are many things we appreciate about living here. To list just a few: the wide kitchen window, the skylight and the partitions that make interesting shadow patterns, the forest views, the comfy living room chairs, the long kitchen counter, the beautiful wood floors, the heat lamp in the bathroom, the cozy feeling created by the low ceiling in the bedroom, the pops of green from the houseplants, the way light streams in through the windows, the plants outside that will transform the landscape. We’re grateful to be living in a house with solid construction and careful design—architecture that leads to happiness.

skylight patterns and shadows

We wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a day in which you find much to be thankful for.

In through the out door

Doors are symbols of new beginnings, opportunity, transitions, the unknown, and mystery. Doorways are often a precursor to the personality of a space, leading one to anticipate or imagine what might be inside. Entry doors are practical and functional, essential for controlling what comes in and out of the house.

ceremonial entrance with view of shared green space

When homes were constructed in Norris in the 1930s, the ceremonial entrances typically opened to shared green spaces between houses rather than directly to the street. The primary entrance to the New Norris house follows this pattern—when looking out this door, there are views of a shared forest and sloping hillside. The door is on the east side, and is accessed by stairs. Entering here places you in the living area, with a view directly into the swing space.

east entry with stairs

There is also a wider door on the west side which is accessible by a ramped walkway. Entering here brings you to the mudroom hallway with tile floor; exiting through this door provides access to the wood framed electrical enclosure where the recycling and garbage cans are stored.

west entry with outdoor electrical enclosure

Having two entrances can be convenient, especially when it’s raining—entering from the west side onto the tile keeps the wood floors dry. However, not everyone coming to the house knows there are two entrances. Visitors or delivery people knock on the door they perceive as the front door, and some choose the door up the stairs while others choose the door up the ramp. Their door choices may be influenced by the direction they take to get to the house; the door seen on approach might appear as the primary entry option.

west entry with ramp

The sound of knocking on either door resonates about the same inside the house, so it can be difficult to decide which door to answer. On several occasions, there have been a series of comical near misses—I open the wrong door and while walking across the house to the other door, the visitor has decided to do the same outside and soon starts knocking on the opposite door. The back of each door is made of cedar, so the opportunity to open either door and catch the refreshing scent while doing so is rather pleasant.

cedar on back of east entry door

The other set of doors in the house are the French doors in the living space. They open out to the deck and provide views of the backyard and forest. While not main entry doors, they allow easy access to the outdoor living space and the gardens, continuing the thoughts of the door as metaphor.

french doors in the living space

Photo 3 courtesy of UT College of Architecture & Design

Photos 4 & 5 courtesy of Ken McCown

Fall Volunteer Planting Day

When it comes to adding new plants to your landscape, most people think spring is the best time to plant. While some plants do well when planted in the spring, many plants, including trees and woody shrubs, benefit from fall planting. Trees and shrubs that are installed in the fall ultimately grow better because they have better conditions for root growth. In the fall, cooler atmospheric temperatures and decreased daylight hours signal the plant to stop growing above ground. Because the plant is not using as much energy to grow leaves and stems it has more energy to invest in root growth. Even though fall air is chilly, the ground remains relatively warm, and this further encourages root development. The roots continue to grow until the ground freezes, and in the spring root growth resumes or increases at an accelerated rate. Spring installed plants are at a disadvantage because their initial root growth is occurring in cool soils, while fall installed plants already have a well developed root structure. Well developed roots become increasingly important as cool, rainy spring weather gives way to hot, dry summer - a plant with well developed roots is much better equipped to deal with heat and drought then a plant that has a short and shallow root structure.

This past weekend we held a volunteer fall planting day at the New Norris House to complete the Phase II planting of trees and shrubs. We installed 55 shrubs to stabilize the slopes and provide food and habitat for wildlife.


We also planted 9 trees to provide buffer zones between our property and the adjacent properties. We planted 1 large dogwood in the front lawn as an accent tree. As the dogwood grows taller it will develop a horizontal branch structure that will frame the front large window.


The weather was perfect for digging and planting, and we had about 20 volunteers come to help. The day was a great success and we were able to install all the plants before lunchtime!

Thank you to all of the volunteers and Little River Nursery for providing the plant materials and donating the dogwood tree!

Fall color, inside and out

Autumn is here, and leaves are turning and falling. The riot of color outside changes a bit every day. Brown, red, rust, orange, yellow, and ochre leaves are mixed with green grasses and shrubs, and collect in piles when they fall.

from green to red to orange to yellow

Last week as I stood on the deck and looked at the trees in the back, it struck me that the colors used in the house are perfect complements to the colors in the fall landscape. Although white is the predominant paint color in the house, there are two other colors used on walls that can’t be seen from the main living area. The bedroom and bathroom each have an accent wall in golden yellow, and the swing space and loft each have an accent wall in reddish orange. Both colors match leaves hanging on to some of the trees around the house; the visual continuity of the outdoor and indoor is pleasing to the eye.

bedroom & bathroom

swing space & loft

Because the colored walls are balanced by white walls, the light coming in through the windows creates a reflection of that color on opposite walls. The photo below shows the effect—the only wall that is painted is the one down the middle, and the color faces the left. The light entering the skylight on the right has a much cooler tone since it is reflecting off a white wall. (View the original photo here.)

The furniture cushions and pillows are a light leafy green and buckskin, with one pillow in a contrasting reddish orange fabric similar to the paint color. The floor and kitchen counters are made of wood, with the floor a red oak and the counter a lighter more yellow oak. Houseplants have leaves ranging from chartreuse to dark green. Tile in the entryway is blue slate (although not visible from the house, reminiscent of the expanse of water on Norris Lake). All these interior colors have easily identifiable foils outside, and bring nature into the house this autumn.

furniture cushion

red oak floor

entryway tile

Living in a small home, Part 2

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single house in possession of occupants, must be in want of plenty of closed storage space.* Although the house has a relatively small footprint, we’ve found the cabinets and closets provide just enough storage space for the two of us (just enough = everything we moved to the house fits, with a bit of room to spare). The house was designed with attention to storage space; there are three closets (bedroom, broom, and 24” wide freestanding wardrobe), and cabinets in the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, swing space, and loft.

Bedroom and swing space

The cabinets were designed and built by students. They’re painted white, which provides uniformity throughout the house, and without any hardware, the cabinet doors have a clean, sleek look. In a way, the beveled edges on the bottom of the cabinet doors in the kitchen and swing space are the hardware; the edges are easy to grasp and pull open. The soft-closing mechanisms mean they are quiet. The cabinet doors (and drawers) under the kitchen counter and in the bedroom have beveled edges too, but they’re opened and closed by spring action. Pressing on the corner of a door releases a spring, and pressing the door on the same corner back into the cabinet housing compresses it.

Beveled edges and spring

While unpacking, it became clear we’d have to come up with some storage locations and strategies that were different from how we stored things before. The bathroom has one cabinet under the sink with some small shelves next to it; before, we had several cabinets and drawers. New strategy: daily use items stay in the medicine cabinet and under the sink, and the occasional items stay in the drawers of the freestanding wardrobe. The bedroom closet has one hanging rod; before, our closet had two different rod heights, so both shirts and pants were on hangers. New strategy: shirts and dresses hang in the bedroom closet, while pants are stacked horizontally in bedroom cabinets instead of hanging vertically. Other solutions were made for the kitchen and swing space too.

Bookshelves in the loft

Adapting to the storage space here as it was designed to be used, and organizing our items to fit within, has meant thinking about space in a different way. And, it means being conscious of what we bring into the house, not filling cabinets just because there’s room.

*With apologies to Jane Austen.

USGBC Tour

Before talking about the latest New Norris House happenings, I should introduce myself. My name is Eric Bennett, one of the Graduate Research Assistants for the New Norris House. I am currently in my final year of the Master of Architecture program at UTK. I received my undergraduate degree in architecture from Clemson University in 2007 and I was able to get a few years of professional experience before returning to school last year. This is my first semester being involved with the New Norris House and I will be specifically working to interpret all of the energy data that is being monitored in the home. I will also help lead several tours through the home.


Last week, the New Norris House hosted a tour for the local USGBC members. It was a great learning experience for the tour attendees as well as a test for the New Norris House team to answer some specific questions from well versed local professionals. The USGBC members were led through the different phases of the project's development, from the historical precedent of the Norris community, preliminary design, off-site and on-site construction, landscape design, and through the current Phase IV, energy and water monitoring programs.

While all of the tour guests were very impressed with the overall sustainability aspects of the home's design and systems integration, the greatest compliments were aimed towards the excellent craft of construction. With all the credit going to the "newly skilled" UT students involved with the project, the New Norris House was referred to as "a beautifully conceived and executed work". So to all of the current and past students involved with the project, your hard work and dedication is being recognized, well received, and will hopefully pave the way for more design-build projects to take place within the University. I am sure that the experience gained by working on the New Norris House will have an immeasurable impact on your future career. I am excited to be involved with such a great project and I look forward to sharing what we learn.

Living in a small home, Part 1

View out picture window in kitchen

I made my first visit to the Norris House in June, at the end of the build part of the project. Finishing touches were happening inside—assembly of the bed platform, installation of bathroom shelves, sewing of slipcovers for the furniture cushions. The floor was still covered in paper to protect it from dusty footsteps, tool boxes and ladders occupied floor space inside the house, and students were in and out finishing up their work. The house felt open because of the high ceiling in the living area, but it also felt… small. At 768 square feet (not including the loft), the perception of “small” is relative, but that was my first impression. We were living in a 1,200 square foot condo with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a 1,350 square foot house with a garage before that, so it was obvious we would need to do some purging and rent a storage unit for things like furniture and larger items, and some miscellaneous boxes.

View from kitchen through bedroom window

My original perception of the interior has changed after living in the house for several months. With the floors uncovered, the furniture in place, and only two of us here, it no longer seems small.

High ceiling and view to the backyard

There are windows on every side of the house, allowing light in and views out. I can sit at the kitchen table, look across to the living space, and out the doors and window into the trees out back. The window in the kitchen between the counter tops and cabinets might be my favorite window in the house. Sitting at the kitchen table, I can look out the window to a direct view of the sky and trees and birds.

A favorite view

Without the high ceiling and skylight, the house would certainly still feel small, but the open space combined with all the windows gives the feeling of living in a house that is larger than the plans say it is. It wouldn’t be difficult to live in a house this size after our time here is over (the time saved on cleaning a smaller house is a perk). For now, we’re enjoying the views and the light.

Rainwater System

Our rainwater harvesting, treatment, and distribution system was put together by the BRAE rainwater group out of North Carolina. As part of our ongoing partnership, BRAE released this promotional video a few days ago describing the rainwater system as installed in the house.

Enjoy!

BRAE Rainwater Harvesting
www.thenewnorrishouse.com

Phase IV Water Monitoring

Now that our water systems are up and running, it's time to begin the monitoring and analysis process. My task as a graduate assistant is to formalize a sampling and analysis protocol for testing water quality on both the supply side and the waste water side.

A little about me: My name is Valerie Friedmann and I am in my third year of studies as a graduate student in landscape architecture at UTK. My role in the New Norris House project began as a landscape architecture student consultant in the spring of 2010. I began by refining the conceptual landscape design, and continued working on the project to see it through the construction and installation phases. Last summer, I worked with a group of UTK students to finalize construction documents, order materials, and construct the landscape elements. Now that our landscape system is online with the home's rainwater overflow and greywater discharge systems, I am very excited to determine the efficacy of the landscape systems in mediating the quality of the greywater and the flow, velocity, and erosion potential of the rainwater.

Back to the monitoring process:

On the water supply side, our design includes a rainwater harvesting system that collects rainwater from the roof of the home and stores it in a 400 gallon cistern. The water is filtered and treated with UV and used for non-potable sources in the home. We have a temporary permit to allow rainwater to be used in the home, and we are testing to compare the rainwater composition pre- and post-treatment to the City of Norris municipal water supply.

Our goal is 01) to learn if the rainwater quality we are collecting and treating would produce water that is safe for use as a potable source and 02) how the water quality compares to the city's water quality. The City of Norris revised its ordinances to allow the systems to work and be plumbed as such in the New Norris Home while UTK owns the home. Results may allow extension of the permit to a future owner, and perhaps other town residents. A second test we are interested in concerns the greywater. We have designed and installed a greywater treatment garden, and we would like to sample the greywater as it leaves the house and at various distances from where it enters the greywater treatment bed. The goal here is to see if pollutants from the greywater are successfully being mediated in the bed. We currently have a temporary State Operation Permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) that allows us to collect, treat and release greywater in the beds; this will expire after three years or when UTK sells the property. TDEC has been very supportive and is interested in the results of the study and its potential to effect future state policies.

Image Credit: Ken McCown

We are currently working with TDEC officials and UTK professors from the Department of Biosystems Engineering to develop our testing protocol for both rainwater and greywater analysis. I will be posting updates on our process and results throughout the semester, so stay tuned!

Meet the Residents

Greetings from the New Norris House residents! We’ll be living in the house for the next year, and want to introduce ourselves to you.

Who we are ---
Ken McCown and Mary Leverance, married for two years. We moved to downtown Knoxville almost a year and a half ago, and to the New Norris House this summer. Ken will contribute photos for our blog entries, and I’ll do most of the writing.

What we do ---

Ken is Chair of the Landscape Architecture Program in the College of Architecture + Design at UT Knoxville. He has a Master’s of Architecture and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
I’m a graduate student in the School of Information Sciences at UT Knoxville, where I take classes in the evenings through the school’s Distance Education program. I have Bachelor of Science in Geography from Arizona State University. I currently telecommute part-time to a job based in Phoenix, AZ.

Where we’re from ---
Ken and I met while living in Tempe, AZ. While in Tempe, Ken was an associate professor in the School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture at Arizona State University, and I worked full-time in the GIS/mapping division of a commercial real estate company. Ken has lived in Virginia, New York, Kentucky, Illinois, Florida, California, and Arizona—for a total of 32 different residences (!). I’ve lived in Wisconsin, Arizona, and California.

Why we’re here ---
Our schedules and backgrounds fit with the ideas of sustainability and efficiency behind the house. The Norris Dam was constructed in the 1930s to generate power for the new community of Norris. My energy use for telecommuting and taking classes from home demonstrates that living in a modern and efficient way is still possible, 75 years from the town’s beginning. And, because I don’t have an architecture or design background, I’ll provide a different perspective on the house’s design and functionality.
Ken has lived in and maintained a university property before. While in California, he was an assistant professor at Cal Poly Pomona and the director of the Richard and Dion Neutra VDL Research House II in Silver Lake, CA. He gave tours, maintained the property, and raised revenue for care and preservation of the house. Ken's background, along with his interests in sustainability, urban design, and historic preservation will give a design perspective on the Norris House.

Miscellaneous ---
On the weekends, we’re reading, watching college football and The Amazing Race, or taking walks in the Norris Lake area. We both enjoy traveling as well.

We’re looking forward to our time in the New Norris House, and will be sharing our experiences here on a weekly basis. See you next week.

Sponsor Spotlight: Overhill Gardens

Our friends at Overhill Gardens provided the native plants in the New Norris House landscape. This Saturday Overhill Gardens is hosting an open house where you can tour their nursery and learn more about the benefits of gardening with native plants.

Fall Equinox

September 23rd marked the first day of fall for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. With the change in seasons comes one of the most exciting aspects of landscape design: planting for multi-season interest.


Landscapes, and the plants we find in them, are evolving milieus that reflect the changes in atmospheric and ground temperatures, duration of daylight, and amount of precipitation among other things. This becomes most evident to us as the seasons change, and natural things begin to ready themselves for the months ahead. The gardens at the New Norris House all serve an ecological function, whether it is to filter rainwater, remediate greywater, or reduce heat island effects. However, plants were chosen not only for their functionality, but also for their year-round beauty. The planting design reflects this as different species were grouped and located in relation to each other based on when they bloom or have interesting foliage.


The uppermost image shows the changes in the landscape palette at a conceptual level, while the above chart provides a monthly sequence of interest. An example, the below image shows two native grasses. While both grasses have a cool green to blueish tint in the spring and summer, Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' (in backgorund) develops burgundy streaks in the fall. When Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues' (foreground) is planted next to Panicum its airy, golden blooms form a fantastic complimentary relationship that is only evident in the fall.


Anyone want to go on a plant walk?