#330 - RICK JOY, Founder and Principal of Studio Rick Joy
SUMMARY
This week Architect Rick Joy, Founder and Principal of Studio Rick Joy joins David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design to discuss his background; transitioning from his career as a percussionist to architecture; his philosophy and practice; the pros and cons of design-build; his process and thoughts on architectural style; and more. Enjoy!
ABOUT RICK
Rick Joy is the founder and principal of Studio Rick joy formerly Rick Joy architects.
He is considered an important contributor to the ongoing global discourse on conceptual and sustainable architecture. His work expresses innovation and exactitude in modernism and reflects a unique sense of place.
Honors include receiving the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture in 2022 and in 2004 winning the prestigious National Design Award from the Smithsonian Institute/ Cooper-Hewitt Museum.
In 2015, Rick was vested into the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows and the Royal Institute of British Architects’ RIBA International College of Fellows.
He was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame at the Javits Center event in 2019.
Other professional affiliations include the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, Tucson MOCA Advisory Board Member.
Rick lectures internationally and periodically serve as visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Rice University, M.I.T., and the University of Arizona.
The studio’s first monograph, Desert Works, was released by Princeton Architectural Press in 2002 and the second, Studio Joy Works, was released in 2018.
He is also the co-owner of CLL Concept Lighting Lab with his partner Claudia Kappl Joy. CLL provides full-service lighting design for all SRJ projects in addition to outside firms.
Originally from Maine, he studied music and was a classical percussionist and rock/ blues drummer until the age of 28 when he moved to Tucson to study Architecture.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Highlights.
(08:50) Architecture school.
(15:15) The sensorial aspect of architecture.
“I think smell is the most vivid memory-provoking sense. When you smell that cut grass like you just said, I go right back to Maine in my mind. And even I smell someone baking cookies next door, I can see my mother in the kitchen making cookies for us kids.” (17:58)
(18:24) Life after graduation.
“It’s a teaching studio. Sometimes I’ll go up to somebody's desk and I'll say “Turn off your monitors and don't look at your watch or your phone. What time is it?”… I want people to be architects, not technicians, not Revit people.” (28:44)
(31:17) Process.
(37:17) Starting an office.
(54:03) Transition away from design-build.
(01:00:09) Style.
“I don't have a signature style for lots of reasons. I believe in the building culture of place and finding place through nature.” (01:01:41)
(01:08:50) Architecture fees.
“The young folks are willing to do projects for such low fees… If you wanted to buy a used commercial building in downtown Tucson, you would pay 10% to a real estate agent who's going to spend four days on it. And I'm going to have five architects for three years and you want me to do it for 3%? Now, that’s crazy and I’m not going to do that to the profession.” (01:09:05)
(01:16:43) Future.
