New Homes & Lifestyles
At Home With Award-Winning Architect - Contractor & Visionary Richard Doria - by Marrissa Meyer
Richard Doria, his wife Susan, their eight-year-old daughter Triana and their slow-moving chow chow Gubbio, have called Doria's creation their home for a mere six months.
The low-profile, horizontal home in Phoenix echoes the design aesthetic of one of architecture's greatest, Frank Lloyd Wright. After graduation from the ASU School of Architecture in 1981, Doria set out on his own. He finds inspiration for each of his designs, including his own home, in Wright's designs. Each of Doria's projects pays respect to Wright's work. The first home, a retro-fit in historic Downtown Phoenix, won a "Home of the Year" award in 1998. Doria and his family live in a prime location for someone inspired by one of modern architecture's most influential players; there are two Wright-designed homes in Doria's subdivision, along with 35 modern homes, the highest concentration of modern home architecture in the state.
Doria feels he's found a Mecca for modern architecture, a rare discovery in a sea of Tuscan McMansions and Spanish revival-style communities.
Doria's home is an open-plan anomaly in Arizona, where homes with tall gates, heavy curtains and strategically placed privacy landscaping overwhelm the Valley. There are very few walls in his home, the rear family room can be seen from the front entry, and there is a clear view through to the bedroom from the expansive kitchen. The open plan is a great analogy for Doria as a designer and as a person. On any given day, you can look directly into his home and catch him making breakfast or reading a book, and he's okay with that. "An open plan reflects how I live and go about my life," he says, "this is what I am, this is who I am, if you walk down the street you can see right through my house, that's fine with me, I'll wave to you." and he did, as I stood outside attempting to figure out where his front door was located.
Doria and his family are more than comfortable in their revealing home, but the same cannot always be said about guests. "People who come over always say, 'there are no window shades on your house,' and I'm like, I know and they ask, 'don't you feel uncomfortable about that?' I say nope, not at all, I like being able to see out of my house, if people want to look in, that's fine. I have beautiful views, I want to be able to see them every minute of the day, I don't want to ever have to look through a blind or a curtain that obstructs my view of the world. If you live in a contained box, you can never let your mind go." This way of thinking is central to the principles of modern architecture.
Modern architecture focuses on natural materials and systems that not only make the home comfortable and durable, but functional as well. Doria professes, "it's about landscaping, it's about openness, materiality and textures, it's putting everything together minimally, to express the beauty of the countertops, of the flooring; modernism is lifestyle, you tend to have just what you need to enjoy your life with, you have a symbiotic relationship with the [home] site, the environment, everything is in equilibrium." Doria is a modern architect through and through, he does not simply profess a modernist way of life, he lives it.
Just about all of the materials in the home are recycled or reclaimed, they are also renewable. The ceilings are constructed from bamboo; reclaimed woods are used on floors and cabinets. The home is also outfitted with energy conservation-based building systems important to sustainable architecture and green building principles. Doria has a photovoltaic (PV) array on the roof, which converts solar energy into direct current electricity, generating all of the electric power for the home. Water from the roof is harvested to water the plants and tank-less water heaters heat only the water needed at particular locations, the house seems to pulse green. Another plus in Doria's sustainable system is maintenance, or lack thereof; the pre-finished exterior metal never needs painting, and Xeriscape landscaping is virtually "bullet proof," all you have to do is watch it grow.
When talking with Doria, it's all but impossible to ignore the driving sense of purpose in his voice, it comes out in every project he undertakes. Each Doria residential and commercial project stands apart from the cookie-cutter, designs that permeate the Valley. He will never repeat a design element, when clients approach him to recreate something from another one of his projects, he most often replies with, "that was a great project, but why don't we make this the best for your home? Why do the same thing?"
He has accommodated some very special requests over the years, including a home he is currently planning in a Peoria community of barn homes. This new project will be constructed entirely out of steel, concrete and glass. It will also feature a curved roof. But this is not a strange request according to Doria, "a strange request for me," he says "is a Tuscan-style home, we don't do that."
Creating something new is not only Doria's job, it's his passion, and his home has become a laboratory of sorts. "I tried a lot of different things with the house, that I had been wanting to do but haven't had the chance to undertake, it's been a bit of an experimental house." The "experimental" concrete countertops, reclaimed woodwork, and landscaping, have all been a success. But what is perhaps the most exciting experiment of all is not even a part of the home: the in-ground trampoline in the backyard lures guests young and old for a quick bounce. It has a strange power over jumpers, defying you not to let loose a high-pitched squeal in mid-jump.
For now, Doria and family are comfortable in their home, one project in a portfolio of striking, sustainable homes. However, "I do have my eye on something in the near future," he revealed. Doria is inspired by each new project he undertakes, I have an inkling it won't be long until he's on to new experiments.
