An Iconic Modern House in Woodstock Hits the Market

Tuscon-based architect Rick Joy grew up in Maine, where he studied music and worked as a carpenter before going to architecture school at the University of Arizona. Joy has earned a reputation as a master of desert rammed-earth construction (Steven Holl calls his work “transcendent moments of space, light, and matter” in Rick Joy: Desert Works).

For this project in the Green Mountains of Vermont, set on a 210-acre parcel, Joy departed from his usual vocabulary and created a gable-roofed, steel-framed cedar-shingle-and-stone house and barn. The traditional “stone-ender walls” are made from bedrock salvaged from the bottom of Lake Champlain, engineered by Olde World Masonry. Among the green features Joy incorporated in the design are a wind tower, solar panels, geothermal heating, and a hydropower feature, all of which means the clients will be “selling electricity back to the power company very soon,” Joy says.

N.B. For more details on the project, read Suzanne Stephens’s writeup at Architectural Record. Photography by Jean-Luc Laloux.

Above: A study in light and shadow. To see the listing, go to Architecture for Sale.

Above: The simple, elegant structures have a modern monumentalism.

Above: Joy situated the house and barn near the spring-fed pond rather than on a higher point on the property, which was the client’s original intent.

Above: A view of the main living space.

Above: The interiors are unadorned; light is the only decor needed.

Above: A wood-clad bedroom

Above: Joy paid particular attention to the private spaces, which all overlook sweeping views of the Green Mountains.

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