David Wright: Passive Solar Design

(Page 16 of 16)

September/October 1977
By Travis Brock 
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The change to a solar economy is going to do something else too: It's going to change the physical makeup of our world for the better. Man is very sloppy and very tacky and not too many of the cities that he's built are really beautiful.

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Nature, on the other hand, is much more discerning in the way it manifests itself. And as we start designing our communities to use the natural sources of energy in each area, you're going to see a big difference.

First, solar collectors will start popping up on a lot of existing buildings. Then, subdivisions that are totally oriented towards the sun and which contain very energy-efficient structures will begin to appear. And they'll be different . . . they'll fit together and blend into the landscape, instead of being individual contradictory little statements that just clutter everything up and clash with each other. And eventually, we'll probably evolve megastructures that will be very efficient and serve us better . . . while leaving a great deal more land open for agricultural and recreational uses.

I believe that this is all inevitable and all quite exciting. The Solar Age is just starting to dawn and I'm very optimistic about it.

"Use native materials, build your house like a thermos bottle, then aim that thermos bottle south and put a cork in it," says architect David Wright. Result: ancient/futuristic structures, such as the ones shown here, that blend into their landscapes and-at almost no cost-n aturally heat them selves in the winter and cool themselves during the summer.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Do David Wright's ideas really work? Yes, they do. Last season David and his wife, Barbara, lived quite comfortably all winter long on the cold northern coast of California in their new home "Sundown". . . while burning only 10 chunks of wood in a small auxiliary backup heater. Not 10 chunks of wood a day, or a week . . . but 10 chunks of wood all winter long.

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