Archinect - University of Tennessee (Samuel)

A Goodbye To This Blog

2013-02-28T19:01:00-05:00

Hi all,

I started this blog at the request of an upper year (so of course I obeyed) in 2008 as a 3rd year B.Arch student at UT Knoxville. Looking back, I do wish I had kept up with it a bit better and more accurately communicated the shaping experience that I was going through. I see now that I mostly rambled, but I hope someone made use of it in someway.

That being said, my time at UT is coming to a close, and thus so will this blog. The College of Architecture and Design at UT has been quietly on the rise for many years, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to attend when I did (2005-2010, as a student; 2010-2013, as a researcher working on the New Norris House project).

If anyone wants to get in touch about UT, feel free to contact me. I am going to keep writing on the New Norris House project blog for some time, and will likely start something new soon. And as a final plug, you can check out my personal website if you want to hire me or otherwise pay me money.

So-...

LEED for Homes

2011-09-08T11:58:19-04:00

Over the course of the past 3 months I have been working to complete our LEED for Homes submission to the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) in hopes of achieving a Platinum certification. We are well over the Platinum threshold and are currently projecting that we will exceed it by 27 points. Once certified, we will be the 6th (maybe 7th) LEED for Homes Platinum project in the state of Tennessee. Furthermore, we will be the first LEED platinum project in the University of Tennessee's building stock.

While the documentation itself is more or less complete, we have been working on a large publication to accompany our submission. We hope that our efforts can serve as a case study for others and the book will be available for purchase/ download in the coming months! Below you will find some draft spreads of the 264 page document. Enjoy!

PS. Check us out on ArchDaily. The big times!
www.thenewnorrishouse.com

The cover of the book.

The fist section deals with the story and backgro...

Video Tour of the New Norris House

2011-08-28T11:43:16-04:00

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

Ribbon Cutting Announcement

2011-08-17T16:15:58-04:00

Wanted to share this with you all. I realize very few even live in the region, but just the same-- next week is the big day. Lots to do before then and still lots to do after!

Energy Monitoring Equipment Installation

2011-08-12T16:50:05-04:00

Spent yesterday out on-site troubleshooting our monitoring equipment with Tony and Philip from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (These guys are writing the book on home energy research.)

I know I am bad about promising longer explanations in the future, but... I promise a longer explanation in the future about all our phase iv quantitative evaluation efforts.

A quick summary:

-We are monitoring basically every circuit on the panel board individually using a powerful suite of tools and equipment from eMonitor.

-We are monitoring the effectiveness of the energy recovery ventilator. (1 temp/RH probe in all four ducts)

-We are monitoring water temperatures to watch the solar hotwater/ electric makeup heat interaction.

-Along with all the basic stuff like outdoor weather, interior temperatures/RH, water use for the rainwater system, etc.

I know not all the archinects out there are that interested in this kind of stuff, but you have to admit that it is really neat. Until next ...

Exterior Photo

2011-07-28T18:21:50-04:00

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

(Photo credited to Ken McCown)

If anyone is around the East Tennessee area in late August (such a pleasant time to be outside) we will be hosting a very large open house/ ribbon cutting. More details on that to follow...

Thanks for looking! Blogging efforts by home resident to start soon! I will keep everyone posted, because it should be very interesting reading for the next year.

www.thenewnorrishouse.com
Ken's Norris Photostream

Final Interior Shots

2011-07-09T16:22:35-04:00

I am pleased to announce the completion of interior finish work on the New Norris House project!

Check out a few of these amazing shots taken by Ken McCown, chair of our Landscape Architecture Program in the College of Architecture and Design. You can find the entire set on his Flickr stream at the link below. Another post soon with update on the project, but enjoy these beautiful shots for now... Thanks, Ken!

Full Set of photos Flickr
www.thenewnorrishouse.com

Mini-Term, week 1 Recap

2011-05-26T23:53:38-04:00

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...

Open House: May 2011

2011-05-17T13:35:58-04:00

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.

I promise more updates and back updates as we hone in on a final completion in the next 2 months. We are into the punch list now and the last large remaining item is the landscape (which will be ongoing through the summer and into the fall based on planting schedules).

In the meantime, enjoy the photos!

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

Siding and Interiors Progress

2011-02-23T15:15:20-05:00

Photo credit: Ken McCown

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

New Norris House: Interiors

2011-02-02T14:35:13-05:00

Gypsum board work is more or less complete at this point. So far all the critical details and alignments have come out perfectly-- yielding a great sigh of relief from all parties involved.

On a similar note, our interior team is moving forward with finish and furnishing concepts as we move towards our early summer completion date. More about casework and adventures in CNC soon.

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

Spring Lecture Series Poster

2011-01-28T15:48:28-05:00

Glycol Lines and Design Intent

2011-01-18T09:06:58-05:00

Siding in-progress...

2011-01-10T17:13:49-05:00

Classes will recommence Wednesday and there is plenty of siding work left to complete. This photo is a nice example of how the final facade will look, but there is nearly 80% of the work left to do! The wood is an Atlantic White Cedar (naturally rot resistant and a regional species) with a bleaching oil finish. Let's hope for warmer weather so we can get outside and finish!

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

Spring Semester Begins

2011-01-06T17:23:14-05:00

A two month old photo, but the only one on my machine at the moment

The winter break is over and we are ready to get back to work for the spring. The weather has turned considerably colder than when our class was last working at the end of November. Hopefully, within the next two weeks we will complete the insulation of the roof and will be able to heat the home a lot more efficiently with temporary heaters. Generally speaking, the division of work between this semester and last semester is that we will be focusing primarily on the interior this spring (while last fall was mostly about the exterior).

There is a mounting list of tasks to complete as we continue our march towards a early summer completion date. Classes begin next week and we will have a new batch of students to begin investigating a variety of design and construction issues remaining. This semester our class will be open to 4th and 5th year students, as well as the possibility of hosting Polish exchange students who...

Time Lapse: Clayton On-site Installation

2010-10-11T14:36:54-04:00

A short time-lapse film condensing the two day installation process by Clayton Homes on-site in Norrs, Tennessee.

Clayon delivers: A very huge milestone

2010-09-30T23:37:17-04:00

Today was an enormous moment as Clayton Homes, our industry partner in the interdisciplinary design-build effort, delivered their two units on site. Much more to come later, but a few quick video uploads to give you an idea of the scale, site, and form.

Very, very exciting for everyone involved. Many thanks to Brian Russell and Brad Russell from Clayton Homes for their help today, as well as our house setter, John Schmitt of Indiana for tackling this effort with such [seemingly] apparent ease.

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

www.thenewnorrishouse.com/photos.htm

www.thenewnorrishouse.com/blog.htm

Clayton is complete-- on to site work

2010-09-25T19:44:15-04:00

Work on the house in the Clayton factory is complete in five short days. Seeing this process culminate after two years of design, redesign, and bureaucracy has been quite surreal. I am convinced after spending 5 full days in Clayton's facility that the potential to complete a similar project (given the knowledge I have garnered from watching them work and negotiating the entire process) remains extremely high. Not only could we could have done this a lot easier, but we could have completed a lot more in the factory that would not have to be done on-site. We made plenty of concessions and DID plan around the Clayton construction process-- but I just don't think we truly understood the way their system worked until spending 50+ hours in the factory watching and administrating the fabrication of our own home.

I feel like that all needs to roll around in my head a bit before it comes out with a little more clarity/ insight-- but the point I really want to get across is that I am very, ...

Clayton Production: Day 2

2010-09-17T06:44:38-04:00

Today we built a house. See for yourself what was accomplished.

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

www.thenewnorrishouse.com/photos.htm

www.thenewnorrishouse.com/blog.htm

Clayton Production: Day 1

2010-09-15T23:48:49-04:00

Clayton began their production process today and it is really something else. Many of my classmates made it to this facility and have seen the speed at which they produce, but this was my first time on the production floor. They had our half our floor framed outed, electrical wires run, and plumbing stubbed out in about 2 hours.

This was only the 1st module, but the second should go just as fast. Tomorrow will be a very active day. Framing the 2nd floor. Building all the wall elevations, setting the walls, framing the roof, and setting at least half the roof on the units. Whew. All in one day.

Can't believe this will all be done so quickly. (At least the Clayton part.) Seeing this all full scale is a little mind blowing for me at the moment.

www.thenewnorrishouse.com

www.thenewnorrishouse.com/photos.htm

Here we go again: The New Norris House

2010-09-13T11:08:09-04:00

Another post announcing my return to this blog-- perhaps this time I will keep to it.

UPDATE: I graduated this may with my b.arch from the University of Tennessee. This past summer I was hired by the College of Architecture and Design (at UTKnoxville) to continue work on our design/build effort in collaboration with 4 other recent graduates.

This fall I have been hired as a "Research Specialist" and am continuing work on the project, but with the addition of a twelve 5th year b.arch students and the retention two other recent graduates working as research specialists from this summer. Currently my job consists of leading a group of 2-4 students (9 of 12 in the class have never worked on the project before) through various design and construction exercises, serving as the primary interface with project partner Clayton Homes, varying degrees of construction management, server and file organization hound, web person, and a speckling of graphic design and grant writing on the side.

SO....

2x4 Lecture and Poster

2010-02-22T22:48:16-05:00

Michael Rock (Principal of 2x4 design studio) gave a lecture today as part of our Robert B. Church Lecture Series.

You can watch the lecture here.

How about this poster for our spring series?

Designed by 2x4. Not my favorite.

hellllo

2010-02-17T08:33:44-05:00

It seems my University of Tennessee Archinect counterpart has stopped blogging---- so since this blog is still active, I will pick it back up.

Bullet points because they are my favorite/ a lot of time has passed...

-Back from the ETH. A very amazing semester. Still working on posting projects, photos, and sketches, but most can be accessed here... I had the good intentions of writing some kind of how-to guide about getting to/studying at the ETH (because there was so much interest in the application process, etc) but never got around to it. Maybe one day...

-Back in Knoxville now. And it's cold. It has been snowing for nearly a week, but nothing is sticking. It has never snowed this many days before though in Knoxville as far as I can remember. (5 years)

-Working on the Norris House project again. We are moving into the BUILD phase of design build. More details on this later, as it is quite a long tale. (a back-post about project

-Working on my portfolio/website pretty furiously....

going to the ETH

2009-07-28T11:33:28-04:00

I am leaving for the ETH in 2 weeks.

Question for archinect:

5 most important things I should bring with me related to design / study at the ETH.

Also, I finally got a website going.

www.samuelallenmortimer.com

comments??/?

Video Project

2009-05-13T00:37:19-04:00

First attempt at Adobe Premiere.

information overload

Moving out, Thievery, Harry Potter

2009-05-07T11:57:54-04:00

this semester seems like it will never end. Bullet points because I am lazy/ have other stuff to do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Over the past month probably 8 laptops, loads of headphones, harddrives, jumpdrives, webcameras, mice, calculators, and ipods have been stolen from the architecture building.

-Before we left for DC my backpack was stolen (contents: digital camera, sketchbook, passport, webcamera, headphones).

-3 days after i got back from DC my laptop was stolen off my desk.

-Our Norris project was selected as a semi-finalist in the Tau Sigma Delta Jury, as well as included in the Honor's Exhibition.

-My exhibition for my independent study (separate from Norris) was canceled by the venue 2 days before installation. Excellent.

-I made this sign and put it all around the building:

-I got most of my stuff back the next day (crazy huh? computer and all) but the thief is still at large. Thank our excellent ca...

we won!

2009-04-26T23:49:57-04:00

I am happy to announce that our team has secured a $75000 grant as part of Phase II of the EPA's P3 Sustainable Design Competition!

View more photos here!

UT Knoxville Team Claims Top Honors in EPA Sustainable Design Competition in D.C.
UT students win green award for Norris model home design

p3 competition

Hopefully some of these photos will give everyone a better idea about the vague posts I have been leaving over the past few months.

These were taken during the EPA p3 exhibition last weekend in Washington DC. We were judged over two days and were selected (along with 5 other entries) to move forward with our project.

Our proposal for Phase II: construct the first phase of the project as a demonstration model in Norris, TN next spring as a Design|build studio.

Capitol in background talking with passerby

Framing The Capitol Building

Attempting to cover for the night.

Connection of facade screens (cypress)

Old and new facades juxtaposed

upload.

domestic uploading: water and wa...

EPA installation progress

2009-04-09T18:55:23-04:00

Here are some photos of the progress on the installation.

progress 4 days ago

cypress facade screen

cypress screen close up

progress as of today

big honking pieces of poplar

painting the floor (modular so it can be transported in a truck to DC)

greywater reveal

historical norris vs new norris facade (video screen on other side)

more inventory

we are packing it all up on a truck in one week from tonight. AHHHH

arch-madness

2009-04-05T10:16:59-04:00

I am sure someone has used that title before.

A couple of years ago Levi (and others?) made an entire bracket of 64 professors, staff, administrators, etc within the College of Architecture. Everyone had a rank and everything - it was pretty legit. The intent was to come up with some kind of process the student body could participate in and decide a winner. Never happened - but the file still exists somewhere.... Maybe next march.

Anyway, long time since the last post, although it doesn't really seem like it. We are two weeks out from the EPA competition in DC and in the middle of a large installation construction project.

On another note - we entered the project in the University of Tennessee EUReCA (Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement) competition and were recognized as the top project for the the entire university. Pretty cool huh?

I will post photos of the EUReCA boards and the model progress soon.

More info on EUReCA here:

EPA Competition Final Board: Draft 1

2009-03-02T01:00:28-05:00

Here is the first run through of our boards which we presented at the Foundry midterm review last Tuesday. We received a lot of useful criticism and although the design is basically finalized, we definitely still need to do some work making our idea more clear in the presentation. I think it will read more clearly once some context gets put into the renderings and everything gets tightened up a bit.

Just to clarify: these are boards for the EPA P3 competition. The prize: six - $75,000 dollar grants to continue pursuing project. They are pretty strict on the board requirements (text size, nautilus background, text which must appear on the board, etc) but we are trying to work with it rather than fight it. Most of the entries are hard science based and layed out in PowerPoint, so I think no matter what we do the visual presentation will be no match.

I guess from here the question is how important IS graphic design anyway? I'm a designer - I say VERY. But what will an EPA scientist...