One of the best aspects of living in Norris is being so close to Norris Dam State Park -- it takes less than ten minutes to drive to the dam from the New Norris House. And although I haven’t tried it, you can walk from the community path on our property to the community center and get on the Norris Watershed Trail System which links to the state park’s trails. 

Map from Outdoor Knoxville

I’ve spent many evenings exploring the meadows along the Song Bird Trail below the dam and hiking around the historic mill on Clear Creek. The Andrews Ridge trail system has views of the lake and is ideal for trail running, but my favorite place to explore is the River Bluff Trail on the west side of the Clinch River just below the dam. In just 3.1 miles, the trail passes through several plant communities as it climbs and descends the ridge across north, east, and south facing slopes. The many microclimates found along the trail are home to an impressive variety of spring wildflowers. The park even hosts wildflower walks every year around this time. 

Here are a few examples of the many wildflowers you can see along the River Bluff Trail this time of year:

Cutleaf Toothwort, Dentaria laciniata

Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum

Strange flowers of the Little Brown Jug plant, Hexastylis arifolia

Fernleaf Phacelia, Phacelia bipinnatifida

Trout Lily, Erythronium americanum

Not sure the species of this fern as its fronds were just unfurling from their winter sleep!

As mentioned last week, the New Norris House will be auction in the coming month.This process will be a sealed bid auction and is being overseen by the State of Tennessee Real Estate Asset Management (as a State owned property built by the University's College of Architecture and Design).The... View full entry

The New Norris HOUSE could be your New Norris HOME - WATCH FOR SALE DETAILS THIS SUNDAY IN THE KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL!More to come afterwards!Photo by Robert Batey www.thenewnorrishouse.com View full entry

Last month a group of state and local environmental officials visited the New Norris House to learn about the results of our ongoing data collection. Members of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the Norris Water Commission (NWC) attended the tour led by Profs... View full entry

This month marks one year for me as a resident at the New Norris House. As a previous resident of various apartments near the center of Knoxville, one of the most interesting aspects of living in Norris has been the increase in time I’ve spent outdoors and the animals I’ve happily... View full entry

The New Norris House team is in Denver this week to receive the Committee on the Environment's Top-10 Green Award. Saturday morning fellow Top-10 winners Brooks + Scarpa will sit down with the NNH team and representatives from the AIA to discuss their two winning residential projects. A part of... View full entry

We are very excited to share that the New Norris House Project has been named by the AIA's Committee on the Environment (COTE) as one of the Top-10 Green projects of 2013! This award is one of the most prestigious in architecture in the US, and recognizes “exemplary and innovative... View full entry

We are very excited to share that the New Norris House Project has been named by the AIA's Committee on the Environment (COTE) as one of the Top-10 Green projects of 2013! This award is one of the most prestigious in architecture in the US, and recognizes “exemplary and innovative... View full entry

As mentioned in the previous post, the project team performed an experiment to observe the NNH's ability to resist winter temperature fluctuations with all heating and cooling systems turned off. Samuel recorded the data, and I recorded the experience of three winter days and nights with the heat... View full entry

Earlier this week the project team began a seasonal experiment to test the passive performance of the envelope to resist exterior temperatures fluctuations over the course of 72 hours (3 days). To complete this study, the heating and cooling systems are completely disabled for the... View full entry

A winter storm swept across much of the southeast today leaving a blanket of snow on the New Norris House. Here are a few photos from this beautiful, snowy afternoon: View full entry

Last week, the New Norris House made an appearance at the TN Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects Annual Conference in Nashville, TN. The presentation was geared toward landscape architects, and focused on our landscape design and water harvesting and treatment systems. We... View full entry

The New Norris House is featured on the DIY Network as part of a series on space-saving, sustainable design! Check it out! Photo credit: Jason Kisner / diynetwork.com View full entry

It's hard to believe but August 2012 marked our one year anniversary of occupancy at the New Norris House! The upcoming year of residency and evaluation has just begun, and I'm excited to serve as the 2012-2013 resident. My name is Valerie Friedmann, and I have been part of the New Norris House... View full entry

It’s hard to believe that our year of living in the New Norris House is over. During our time there, it was a bit like living in a lab; our energy and water usage were monitored, and we tested the design and systems installed in the house. Although we’ve moved out, there are several... View full entry

Hello friends, It is with pleasure and excitement that I invite anyone of interest to "attend" a webinar presented by the New Norris House team as part of the AIA Housing Knowledge Community.  Here is a link to the event, which will take place November 5th, 9-10am PT.  Registration is... View full entry

As part of our water system evaluation, monitoring efforts have recently been expanded to include a greywater (water from the bathroom sink, shower, and clothes washer) component. Here we will not be monitoring quality (as we are with rainwater), but rather soil saturation of the greywater bed... View full entry

The past week in Norris has been sizzling hot, along with many areas of the country that have been experiencing excessive heat and drought-like conditions. We’ve had heat advisories almost every day for the past four days; temperatures have been in the low 100s, and humidity has hovered... View full entry

Not long after moving to Norris, we were driving around town and saw a rafter (or gang, if you prefer) of wild turkeys walking through a field. As a newcomer to the area, I did a double take—were we really seeing turkeys?? I’ve seen them again on several occasions and while it... View full entry

The garden was planted a little over a month ago, and I’m amazed at how fast things have grown. Since this is the first garden I’ve ever had, I don’t have a point of reference for plant growth patterns; I suppose they’re growing at typical rates that just seem fast to me... View full entry

This weekend we planted the first half of our native grass meadow. The plan goes like this: 1) to suppress weeds, spread cardboard and staple to the ground with landscape staples 2) mark the plant locations on 2' centers 3) dig, dig, dig 4) plant, water and wait. This is a slightly experimental... View full entry

One of the rooms in the house that hasn’t been mentioned often—yet gets daily use—is the bathroom. With the bathroom being the top water user in the house, the water features installed here are helping conserve water in several ways. The New Norris House was built with a... View full entry

One of the goals of the New Norris House is to have a positive impact on the local community.  We recently hosted a second grade class from Norris Elementary.  The kids were really excited to see what they are learning in school being applied in the local neighborhood. After taking two... View full entry

Clearing the community path and separating seedlings Nothing feels more like Spring than planting a garden, and at the New Norris House that's exactly what happened this weekend. Mary, Eric, and I spent some time doing general yard maintenance, and we also planted the raised vegetable beds. The... View full entry

The New Norris House wall assembly utilizes advanced framing techniques and a rainscreen wall construction.  Constructed of Atlantic White Cedar (AWC), the cladding of the house uses natural materials much like those found on the original Norris cottages of the 1930‘s.  Atlantic... View full entry

It is our pleasure to announce that the New Norris House project has been selected for a Residential Architect Design Award! We have been awarded a Merit Award in the Single Family Housing category. Of over 800 applicants, only 36 were chosen as winners. This is a tremendous honor which we are... View full entry

One day after the first day of spring, flowering plants are already in bloom, grasses are growing, and insects are buzzing. It’s a beautiful time of year in this part of the country! The winter was the fourth warmest on record, and plants are coming out of dormancy sooner than usual. Most... View full entry

In East Tennessee, the last expected freeze date is April 15, but it already feels like spring! With the warmer weather approaching it's time to start making preparations for the installation of the Phase IV landscape - the native grass meadows. Be sure to look for an upcoming post outlining the... View full entry

Out of all the rooms in the New Norris House, the kitchen gets the most use. The majority of our meals are eaten at home, so when it’s time for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack we head to the kitchen. Every day we use the cabinets, cooktop, counter, sink, and fridge—and have the... View full entry

  Check out some of the new photos just uploaded onto http://thenewnorrishouse.com/photos.htm. New finished exterior, interior and site photos have been added as well as some photos of the events that have taken place on site. As Spring is quickly approaching, we are beginning to set up more... View full entry