Judd was often disappointed by the unsympathetic installation of his sculpture in museums and private collections, so he decided to find permanent accommodation for his work.

In 1968 he bought a disused garment factory on Spring Street, Soho, then still a cheap ex-industrial area of New York. He opened up the building to reveal its simple structure, allowing natural light to fill the empty spaces. Each floor was given a single designated purpose: eating, living, sleeping, and the making of art; and in each a sofa, chairs or a bed were placed to create a space for relaxation and for contemplation of the art that had been carefully installed in each area.

In the early 1970s Judd began to look for an opportunity to live and work in the open spaces of the American West. He came upon a group of abandoned buildings in Marfa, Texas, where he developed his concept of creating environments for living, as well as for situating and making art. Over a twenty year period Judd acquired a number of buildings in the town, including several houses, aeroplane hangars, warehouses and an army barracks. Here he installed both his own works and groups of works by artists whom he admired such as John Chamberlain, Ilya Kabakov and Dan Flavin. At Marfa he achieved a synthesis between his own objects and the buildings and surrounding landscape. His installation of 100 milled-aluminium sculptures in two former artillery sheds and the groups of concrete sculptures placed in the surrounding fields represent some of the most impressive permanent installations of sculpture anywhere in the world.

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