David Sellers

World renowned for his innovative architectural design involving the development and implementation of cutting-edge sustainable technology, David Sellers pioneered the “design-build” concept in architecture and is widely recognized as one of the world’s top architects. Sellers has spent the last 25 years working with Patch Adams and the Cousteau Team designing and building ecologically and culturally sensitive sustainable green eco-villages, medical clinics, and hospitals for the poor in ecologically threatened areas of El Salvador, Peru, Haiti, Mexico, Senegal, and the Amazon. He is founder and president of Sellers and Company in Warren, Vermont, an internationally recognized leader in environmental and community-related designs. Starting in 1974, the company experimented in integration of sustainable energy systems and designs featuring passive and active solar, wood backup, superinsulation, water storage for recirculating heat, composting toilets, and windmills. The company has developed other innovations in solar aquatic waste treatment, bio-shelter, and earth shelter. In the area of community design, Sellers’ work has ranged from design strategies for new development in the medieval section of Berlin to the development of a solar-powered western village in harmony with wildlife. His Gesundheit Institute in West Virginia is a 425-acre community eco-village with a health-oriented focus. After graduating from New Trier, Sellers received his B.S. and Master of Architecture from Yale University. He soon purchased land in the Mad River Valley in Vermont that became an enclave for architects who designed as they built, using materials they were able to find or recycle. His vast body of work includes a dormitory using trees as structure, a “Snow Mold House” that tested snow as an inexpensive form of concrete, and most recently the solar- and geothermal-powered “House of the Future,” which includes 50 smart sensors and a living wall of plants, among other features. Sellers has won numerous awards from the American Institute of Architects and has been named one of the Top 100 architects in the world by Architectural Digest. He was inducted into the College of Fellows of the AIA in 2017. At New Trier, Sellers played trumpet in the concert and marching bands, was a varsity golfer, and won the Caddie Tournament at Indian Hill Golf Club, the club that served as inspiration for Caddyshack. His New Trier theatre career was short-lived; after mangling his lines during a play on opening night, he did not return to the stage.