“Lessons Learned: A New Norris House”
Samuel Allen Mortimer, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

ABSTRACT:
In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority created a model community as part of the Norris Dam construction project. Built entirely anew, the town of Norris was envisioned as a self-sustaining utopian community. A key feature of this New Deal village was the Norris House, a series of home designs built for modern, efficient, and sustainable living. New technologies and prefabricated elements were quietly integrated into aesthetically pleasing, vernacularly-inspired homes. In light of the 75th anniversary of the Norris Project, a multidisciplinary, university-led design/build team reinterpreted the Norris paradigm and created a New Norris House – a LEED for Homes Platinum home designed to address the constraints and imperatives of the 21st century. Partnering with a large modular home builder, the academic project team completed the home in a design/build setting over the course of 2.5 years.

Currently, the project is in a demonstration and evaluation phase. Qualitative and quantitative assessments are collected, reflecting the residency of two live-in subjects. Their occupancy patterns are monitored digitally through sensors in the home and landscape. This paper presents selected analysis and results of the design and environmental strategies employed. Data collected over the past 12 months is used to assess residential building design, systems and performance. Strategies for integrating passive and active systems and their benefits, risks and rewards based on the design intentions and data collected are shared.