Rick Joy Architects, Desert Nomad House

Tucson, Arizona

To help illuminate the vision of Rick Joy Architects, it may help to note the details, both of environment and structure. In these details, one experiences a sense of location which translates seamlessly through the built/natural synapse. Rick Joy’s structures are infused with many of the textures, materials and forms which are of the desert. Muted yet functional, they invite one to look out from, as well as in to. Rick Joy had previous incarnations as musician and carpenter (still frequently participating in the actual creation of that which he designs), and his previous experiences continue to resonate in his practice in the design of his libraries, studios and dwellings. His lineage as an architect can be traced to solid foundations in experiment and acuity, through the architects William Bruder, who interned with Paolo Solari, who himself apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West. Those who have experienced the work and places of James Turrell, Donald Judd, Richard Serra and Robert Irwin, will note the noble yet quiet presence which Rick’s dwellings hold. As structures meant to be places of living and work, they respond in their own way to our gaze, communicating vastness or intimacy – and, happily, sometimes both simultaneously.
 
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