Rick Joy: Desert Works [Paperback]

Rick Joy (Author), Juhani Pallasmaa (Introduction), Steven Holl (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: New Voices in Architecture | Publication Date: June 1, 2002

Rick Joy builds with remarkable sensitivity, precision, and grace. The allure of his architecture is often quietly and seductively hidden in the sensual qualities of one's experiences: the sounds, smells, tactile qualities, and moods of his work. Granite crunching underfoot, the gentle trickle of water, and the lacy shadow of a mesquite tree all stir the viewers' sensations. "The simplest things can evoke the deepest feelings," Joy says. "The silence in great music is often more profound than the sounds."The nine buildings shown in thins, the first monograph on Joy's work, express his interest in making places that are transcendent moments of space, light, and matter. In each of the projects the physical landscape, its specific environment, and its rich history are revealed and celebrated. While many of the projects here use sustainable materials like rammed earth, Joy's primary interest is in the quality of the spaces he makes. He shows us how efficient and environmentally sensitive architecture can emerge as a by-product from a quest for the timeless qualities that are always associated with great architecture.Presented in the form of lush photography, insightful narratives, and revealing descriptions of his highly collaborative process, this book will bring one to a closer understanding of one of the most interesting architects practicing today.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This beautiful visual tour of nine of Joy's projects in the Sonoran Desert shows how natural they are to their setting. A transplanted New Englander, Joy uses color, texture, and materials to turn the six houses shown here into spare and subtle evidence of humanity in a vast natural world. He uses a similar approach, with expanded functionality, in the three studio/office designs that complete this book. The quiet of the settings and the simplicity of Joy's approach are perfect partners in producing architecture appropriate to a vast, unpeopled place. This book succeeds because it gives just enough room to the necessary text (Joy's preface, a foreword by architect Steven Holl, and an introduction by critic Juhani Pallasmaa), thus creating a book as lean as Joy's designs. The rest of the book gives us long views, interiors, and detail shots of these superb buildings. One of the publisher's "New Voices in Architecture" monographs on designers around the world, this carefully formatted volume makes an important contribution to an appreciation for contemporary architecture.
David Bryant, New Canaan P.L., CT
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...as simple yet emotionally intense as the desert itself...Joy's writing is eloquent in the absence of pretense." -- Architectural Record, April 2003

"...one of those American make good stories." -- Label, February 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568983360
• ISBN-13: 978-1568983363
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rick Joy, October 23, 2002

By 

Michael Webb (London, England > Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rick Joy: Desert Works (Paperback)

A musician from Maine, who headed west and apprenticed to Will Bruder, the godfather of new Arizona architecture, Joy has built little in his ten years of independent practice, and only around his home base of Tucson. And yet, as this delectable monograph shows, he is a master designer. His houses-of raw steel or rammed earth-respond to the brutal beauty and intense light of the Sonoran desert, and, like Glenn Murcutt, he uses the simplest materials and forms to satisfy all the senses. In Pallasmaa's eloquent tribute and the superb color photos, you can feel the heat of the desert wind, run your hand over a rugged wall, and watch the earth change color as the sun sinks beneath the mountains.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From Spain, a fan of Rick Joy, March 19, 2006

By 

Diego Gamazo Roux (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rick Joy: Desert Works (Paperback)

The book is very complete. Although nothing substitutes the visit of the buildings themselves, it is great to have such information about the very interesting work of Rick Joy: great pictures completed by texts and drawings.
For those who do not know his work but are interested in good architecture, where space, light, materiality ang gravity are so beautifully present, I advise you to buy the book and to travel to Arizona (I wish it was not that far away from Madrid!).
I hope the most recent work of Rick Joy will be published in the future so I can keep on enjoying from his architecture.
Un saludo: Diego G. de R., arquitecto.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful and precise, November 5, 2006

By 

Emmanuel Didier (Fort Collins, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rick Joy: Desert Works (Paperback)

A great book, beautifuly assembled, that provides an inspiring overview of the work. Numerous photos of the built work come along clear and elegant graphics. Simplicity and beauty of Rick Joy's work seem to come through the little book. Thank you.