Catalina House: Rick Joy
Master bedroom facade (--)
The Catalina house is a rammed earth, one story house in Tucson, Arizona, completed in 1998. It is named after the Santa Catalinas mountain range, to which the building is orientated towards, to the North-East of the site. It has a butterfly roof, or as he referred to it, a reversed gable roof, made of over-hanging corrugated steel, which was purposefully rusted. The main architectural feat of this project is its masterful use of shading and orientation to protect the interior from the intense desert sun of the US South-West.
About the Architect:
Desert Nomad House by Rick Joy Architects (--), Rick Joy portrait (--), Summer Valley House by Rick Joy Architects (--)
Rick Joy is an American architect who was born in Maine in 1958. He studied music at the University of Maine and was part of an orchestral group. While working part-time as a carpenter, he also studied colour theory, sculpture, and photography at the Portland School of Art. At the age of 27, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he began his architectural education at the University of Arizona State. He finally became a registered architect in Arizona in 1993 and set up his own practice, Rick Joy Architects. By 1994 he had already began to win awards for his progressive architecture. He has since lectured in institutions such as Harvard, Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico. Due to his practice being based in Arizona, he is particularly known for his desert architecture.(13)
Location:
Satellite Image of Tucson, Arizona (--)
Located in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, the Catalina House sits in a barren, arid landscape. Located at the foot of Mt Lemmon, the main living space of the site looks up towards the rising terrain. With average temperatures of over 30-35 degrees during the day from May to August, buildings must be able to withstand extreme heat. However, as is the nature of the desert, temperatures can drop significantly during the night to near freezing temperatures. This poses an interesting challenge for desert architecture, where the level of direct sunlight entering the home must be heavily restricted, while also keeping the house naturally warm during the night. Due to the proximity of Tucson’s latitude to the tropic of Cancer, it receives very high, vertical direct sunlight during the summer, and quite low sun angles during the winter.
Orientation:
Living room interior (--), Living room exterior (--), Siteplan of the Catalina House (--)
The site has a North-East to South-West orientation. This is askew orientation is desirable because it means that direct sunlight from the South, when the sun is at its highest and likewise the temperature, it does not penetrate through the whole volume of the house. This Southern sunlight is either interrupted by an internal wall or the light is concentrated on a corner of the room, leaving the rest undisturbed and cool. Most of the glazing on the building is located on the North-Eastern façade. This is done for two reasons: to provide views of the Santa Catalinas Mountains, and to block out the scorching desert sun. The private block of the house is rotated slightly clockwise to allow the morning sun to enter the master bedroom.(13)
Openings:
Joy used thick 600mm rammed earth exterior walls as the envelope of the Catalina house. Not only is this a sustainable building material that can be made on location, but its thickness also acts as a mechanism for shading the direct sunlight entering the house. On the South-Western façade, the one most exposed to direct sunlight, the glazing panels are set deep into the wall thickness, nearer the interior of the house. This means that the framing of the opening itself acts as an awning or cover for the opening. Although this may affect the levels of light indoors, the intensity of the Arizona sun means that the reflected light from the ground and the windowsill create enough diffuse light to illuminate the space. In some cases, the window openings have certain angled surfaces to allow more reflected light into the room. Joy also uses low to the ground windows to allow light to enter the house without radiating the space too much. Although these windows are not ideal for views of the outdoor environment, they are an effective means of diffusing light throughout the rooms. These low windows also have a practical application. Some windows are ideal for reading in a seated position by these windows. Another purely functional window is located in the den in the more private wing of the house. The sill of a short ribbon window is at the same level as the desk, so that the surface of the desk is illuminated with daylight without getting into the persons eyes. Another interesting method of diffusing light is observed at the North-western wall of the living/dining room. A glazed roof light exists at the junction between the corrugated roof and the rammed earth wall. This illuminates only the surface of the wall in an arc that changes as the sun rises and sets. This also emphasises the shelves recessed into the thickness of the wall and reveals the formwork patterns of the wall through shadow.
Smart Use of Materials:
Rammed earth walls (--)
The use of thick rammed earth walls also provides ample insulation for the house. The term insulation is used in two contexts in this house due to the desert climate. First the walls must be thick and prevent heat from the sun from penetrating the walls and radiating the space inside during the day. Secondly, the walls must also insulate the heat that accumulates inside the house during the day and prevent it from escaping at night, as the temperature drops dramatically at night. Soil is naturally a good insulator, and this property is further emphasised in rammed earth walls, as the soil is packed densely into layers. The interior of the house uses soft cherrywood, which contrasts nicely with the rough rammed earth walls of the exterior giving a harsher texture to the house that matches the barren landscape. The use of corrugated steel was also a smart choice as it acts as a very cheap and easy way to create an overhanging roof to provide extra shade for the home. The main entrance of the house is covered by a wall to the south and the corrugated roof hangs over, acting as an open-air porch that is shielded from the sun.
Ventilation:
Swivel door at main entrance (--)
Ventilation and cooling are essential in hot arid climates. Due to a lack of wind during its hottest months of May, June and July, Large openings that catch the prevailing winds are a great way to maximise natural cross ventilation of the house. The main entrance of the house faces North-West. The prevailing winds from the West get funnelled into this entrance space by the junction between the walls of the private and living areas. The front door is a large swivel hinge door which opens the entire porch entrance, making the interior of the house a semi-open space. This, coupled with the opening onto the eastern patio, offers cross ventilation throughout the living area. This is also reversed when the prevailing winds change from West to North-East from September to February.(14)
