News
Smith House & Studio – Shasta County, CA
This fine modern two-bedroom home and studio/ garage is a year-round retreat located on the Sacramento River near Mount Shasta. It is designed to be very energy efficient and fireproof. Inside the two-story great room space, a window wall frames the beautiful river view. With walls and ceiling provide lively daylighting in the deeply forested…
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A Passive Solar Home Built Into the Hillside Asks $610K in Northern California
Article from Dwell Magazine written by Kathryn M. on April 27, 2021. Click here to read the article on Dwell.com. Designed in 1980, the partially sunken Sunburst Residence keeps a low profile—and a low carbon footprint. In Applegate, California, halfway between Sacramento and the mountains of Lake Tahoe, a passive solar home known as the Sunburst Residence…
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From Action News Now: Rethinking fire-safe construction
May 11, 2021 – Action News Now reports on giving your Butte County home the best chance of surviving a fire by using non-combustible building materials such as rock walls, hardy planks, steel walls, enclosed eaves, and double or triple-pane windows. David Wright Architects designed this home, the Cotter Residence in Butte County. The Cal…
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Byrne Residence — Nevada County, CA
An expansive ranch headquarters located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Designed for rustic elegant living and energy efficiency. This extensive remodel and addition of a dreary modest 1980s ranch-style home into a modern ranch estate home shows what can be done to completely change the character of an existing house. We doubled…
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Four Decades of Green Design
By KATHERINE FLYNN FOR AIA ARCHITECT originally posted on December 3, 2019 in Architect Magazine. Read the article here. Over the last 50 years, a once-nascent conversation about sustainability has evolved into a full-scale priority for the profession. Passive design—or design that takes advantage of the climate to maintain a comfortable temperature range—has been used to…
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Smith Residence – Shasta Country, CA
This modern rustic residence is being built on the upper Sacramento River near Mount Shasta. The owners are replacing an old 1920s vacation cabin with a modern retirement home. Designed to bend with the wooded river front and older vacation home community, the house is highly energy efficient, fire resistant and functionally designed to focus…
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Cotter Residence – Chico, CA
A 21st Mid-Century Modern home to be constructed in the beautiful Indian Springs area above Chico. The dramatic site overlooks the Sacramento Valley and the Coast Range beyond. This highly efficient modern style house, reflects the minimalist styling of the original Mid-Century Modern, yet incorporates contemporary innovative solar energy features, fire protection technology and use…
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Clegg-Spears Residence, Nevada County, CA
A modern Craftsman style home nestled in rural Nevada County, this finely crafted home is energy efficient, fire safe and highly livable. The outside uses natural rock, wood beams and spacious wrap around porches that blend with the lush site, and enhance year-round outdoor living. Rich, highly detailed craftsman style trim and furnishings make a…
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Marden Residence – Shingle Springs, CA
The clients, construction professionals, purchased a 40-acre horse ranch in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. The existing living quarters were suitable for guests, they elected to build their dream house on the hill overlooking the ranch, valley and oak forest view beyond. Working with clients who have built hundreds of custom homes, over a 30-year career,…
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Iconic Architecture
David’s work was profiled in the February 2017 issue of Style Magazine. The article featured three residences as Iconic Architecture: the Alexander Residence-a modern style located near Pollack Pines on the South Fork of the American River; the Gamboa Residence patterned on an Australian Ranch House style located in Shingle Springs; and the Levin Residence…
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McKay Residence
David designed an innovative passive solar adobe home near Alpine, Texas in the 1970’s. The house, formed around an indoor swimming pool, has performed excellently in the hot, dry and cold climate. Recently a couple has asked us to design a new similar house utilizing new technological materials and controls developed over the last 40…
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North Star Heritage Garden Project
David is the site architect for a long-term project at the historic north star house near Grass Valley, CA. He manages the design work and improvements for the 15 acre, nationally registered historic house. The Heritage Garden will showcase historic plants from the property that were propagated by A.D. Foote, the original mine superintendent, local…
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Rorex Residence
ROREX RESIDENCE- We are designing a passive solar modern home to be located overlooking Flathead Lake in Northwest Montana. This structure is designed with a low slope metal roof to hold the snow preventing damage and acting as insulation in this cold climate zone. The lower level is clad with corrugated Corten sheet metal on…
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Bienvenue Cabin
We have designed an off-grid self-sufficient vacation home for a British family near Elko, Nevada. The client has requested that the structure incorporate 3 sea shipping containers; the exterior will be clad in rusticated vertical Cor-ten sheet metal to blend with and endure the harsh desert environment.
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The Last Wright
AT LAST WHAT THE WORLD HAS BEEN WAITING FOR! David is busy writing his memoirs; the story of his life is one of extraordinary experiences leading to a satisfying career as an unusual type of architect. He is writing this because of his wife’s encouragement, and as an autobiographic history for his children; it reads…
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Rehabilitating a Julia Morgan House
The North Star house in Grass Valley, CA is an 11,00square foot mansion designed by the internationally heralded architect Julia Morgan. Built in 1905 the house is now listed in the National Historic Register, after having been “lost to history” for over 50 years. This was built for Arthur De Wint and Mary Hallock Foote…
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Let It Shine
A newly published book LET IT SHINE authored by John Perlin, who formerly co-wrote THE GOLDEN THREAD, is a 300 year history of the solar architecture of the world. David is featured as an early solar pioneer in the 1970’s solar revival in the USA where he started passive solar designing in Santa Fe, NM.…
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Build with SIPs in Mother Earth News
David wrote an article entitled “Build with SIPs” for Mother Earth News which is on page 56 of the August/September 2012 issue. The article discusses what Structural Insulated Panels are, and the advantages and disadvantages of building with this advanced construction technology. SIPs have been used around the world for decades and are now gaining…
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Passive Solar Design Basics in Mother Earth News
For the June/July 2012 issue of Mother Earth News David wrote an article titled “Passive Solar Design Basics.” This article discusses the ins and outs of Passive Solar Architectural design for buildings. It is interesting that the term Passive Solar was first coined in the living room of David’s new solar house built in Santa…
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