Desert Nomad House, Tucson, Arizona
A highly published and awarded residential masterpiece designed by architect Rick Joy located on eight acres at the base of the Tucson Mountains on the west side of Tucson. Desert Nomad House offers an intimate and powerful experience of the Sonoran desert.
The house is composed of three separate rusted steel boxes, each with a unique and dynamic view of the desert. The interior is finished with maple walls, floors and ceilings.
This luxury desert house, designed by Rick Joy is ideal for a unique vacation, a corporate retreat or a private getaway.
INTRO EXTERIOR INTERIOR AROUND INFO / RATES CONTACT
Boutique Homes Collection # 18345
There have been 46,998 visitors to this page since the property was first published here December, 2010
3 REVIEWS
nomad
January 9, 2012
“Ideal Zone of Tranquility”
That’s what Mies van der Rohe called his iconic Barcelona Pavilion (1929).
And that describes perfectly Rick Joy’s masterpiece in the Sonoran desert just outside Tucson.
The Desert Nomad House has its models and referents including Mies’ own Farnsworth House
which served as a model for the Phillip Johnson Glass House.
Others come to mind, but the DNH ranks with the finest recent examples of domestic
architecture, period, in its sympathetic relationship with the stunning desert landscape,
its restrained use of materials, its balanced elegance, and the perfection of its placement
in the rugged environment. Apparently austere, the three structures–as one lives within
them–reveal a complexity of spatial relationships and textural contrasts that constantly
surprises and delights. The play of light on the ingeniously fabricated maple interiors,
the warmth of the rusted steel cladding coupled with sharp plate glass brilliance, the
pleasure of living in structures defined by proportion and geometrical purity–all combine
to provide an experience that is unique in the absolute meaning of the word.
Photographs barely hint at the richness of being there. But all on a human scale.
The DNH doesn’t intimidate. It simply embodies the over-used Mies dictum, “Less is more.”
The house is totally equipped for living elegantly and comfortably. The owner’s collection
of African tribal art, beautifully displayed, his carpets and textiles, his books and music
all enhanced our brief stay. And above all, that owner, Walt Cecil, is an ingratiating,
always thoughtful host. His loving touches–flowers, small gifts, every provision for our comfort,
the pleasure of his company–added immeasurably to the experience. of living in DNH.
We wanted for nothing there, not physically, not aesthetically, not spiritually.
Now to invoke another famous architectural dictum, this from Phillip Johnson:
“Shut up and look.”
John Stege
Lihayati
November 30, 2011
“GREAT”
Haidee Joy
September 5, 2010
I love this home and the desert setting in my hometown Tucson. If you have a book on this home or articles published please send to me at:
hdejoy@yahoo.com or
Haidee Joy
Post Office Box 927503
San Diego, CA 92192-7503 THXS!