KNOXVILLE — After two years of research, site visits and design work, construction of the New Norris House is under way.
The New Norris House, a sustainable home designed by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is
KNOXVILLE — After two years of research, site visits and design work, construction of the New Norris House is under way.
The New Norris House, a sustainable home designed by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a 21st century take on the original homes in the community of Norris, Tenn., built as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Norris Dam Project in 1933.
Prefabrication of the house begins this week at the Clayton Homes factory, with the shell of the structure to be delivered to the site the week of Oct. 4. Community members Jeff and Regina Merritt, who are active in renovating other historic Norris homes, helped facilitate the university’s acquisition of the home site.
The team is targeting a late April to early May opening of the home for demonstration and visitation by the public. Once completed, the New Norris House will seek LEED-platinum certification from the United States Green Building Council, making it the fifth LEED platinum home in Tennessee. The LEED for homes program promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes and certifies that green design parameters are met.
The original town of Norris was designed as a model community and was revolutionary for its time. The centerpiece of the community was the Norris House, a series of innovative, affordable homes that featured new technologies and design elements such as pre-cast flooring and advancements in ventilation, insulation, electric and thermal heating, indoor plumbing, and lighting. In that same spirit, the New Norris House was designed as an affordable, efficient, and sustainable structure that incorporates today’s technologies and meets today’s needs.
“The New Norris House reflects the original model of Norris homes in it use of local, natural materials, ability to dwell lightly and responsively to the landscape and overall in its embodied progressive vision,” said Samuel Mortimer, a former architecture student an