Award-winning architect Bobby Vance joined UVA as a Practitioner Fellow with the Environmental Institute for the 2024-2025 academic year. As the Principal of Vance Design Company, he brought a focus on sustainability solutions for challenges in the design and construction industry. Work at the intersection of energy demands, sustainability, and infrastructure is critically important as the global economy grows, and Vance provides research-based solutions for building. 

As Vance transitions out of his time at UVA, the Institute caught up with him to ask about his experiences, what he’s learned from his tenure, and what the future holds.

Q: What were you able to accomplish at UVA as a Practitioner Fellow at the Environmental Institute?

As a Practitioner Fellow with the Environmental Institute, my work centered on advancing the role of community-based design-build education in addressing real-world housing challenges. I collaborated closely with the Dwelling Studio at the UVA School of Architecture—led by Schaeffer Somers and Eric Field—to explore a prefabricated, kit-of-parts housing system aligned with recent zoning reforms in Charlottesville. This focus on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) enabled students to investigate housing through the lens of systems thinking, resiliency, and policy responsiveness.

We aimed to bridge academic design excellence with implementable strategies—emphasizing affordability, net-zero energy performance, long-term adaptability, and social equity. Our efforts built on the legacy of UVA’s ecoMOD program and incorporated national best practices from other design-build initiatives. The fellowship allowed us to envision how UVA could reintroduce a design-build framework that links research, fabrication, and community impact.

Q: What do you think are the biggest challenges in sustainability today when it comes to design and construction?

One of the most pressing challenges is the architectural profession’s persistent reliance on mechanical systems for comfort, rather than embracing climate-responsive, passive strategies. This approach perpetuates energy-intensive building practices that often ignore local environmental conditions. Equally critical is the systemic waste associated with conventional site-built construction—much of which stems from fragmented design processes and just-in-time material logistics.

A shift toward prefabricated, component-based construction introduces the opportunity to optimize material usage, improve quality control, and reduce embodied carbon. As emphasized in recent federal housing policy dialogues, modular and off-site solutions also offer time and cost savings while supporting scalability. Sustainable design must now be synonymous with constructability and lifecycle thinking—not just aspirational performance.

Q: What do you think universities and colleges should be focusing on in classrooms when it comes to “resilient” design and building?

Resilience is best taught through practice. Universities should be prioritizing full-scale prototyping, interdisciplinary collaboration, and applied research that interrogates real construction, permitting, and financing constraints. Design-build programs serve as ideal platforms for this work—immersing students in the complexities of material behavior, community engagement, regulatory navigation, and performance validation.

Resilient design also requires broad thinking: preparing for social, economic, and environmental stressors. Classrooms should explore not only technical solutions like energy efficiency and stormwater reuse, but also housing typologies that support intergenerational living, incremental growth, and post-occupancy adaptation. UVA is uniquely positioned to lead in this space by leveraging its research depth and civic engagement culture to develop hands-on, community-facing programs.

Q: What interesting lessons came from your work with UVA students?

UVA students bring an inspiring level of initiative and intellectual rigor to design challenges. Throughout the studio, they demonstrated a strong desire to root their work in real contexts—pushing beyond abstract exercises to address housing needs they might encounter in their own communities. It was particularly energizing to witness their enthusiasm for team-based problem-solving and their openness to constructive critique from professionals and stakeholders.

One meaningful takeaway was how much students valued the opportunity to make decisions with consequence. The design prompt challenged them to think through cost tradeoffs, stakeholder alignment, construction sequencing, and regulatory hurdles. This type of immersive, integrative experience reinforced the importance of design education that prepares students not only to conceptualize but also to implement.

Q: What do you think the next steps should be for sustainable design and construction?

The next frontier lies in designing buildings for assembly, disassembly, and reuse. As noted in recent federal housing policy discussions, the building sector must adopt a manufacturing mindset—treating assemblies as products, not one-off artifacts. Prefabrication enables control, precision, and repeatability, all of which are essential for sustainable and cost-effective construction.

But beyond efficiency, we must also prioritize flexibility. Housing systems should be designed to evolve—allowing future occupants to reconfigure or expand spaces based on need. Pairing this adaptability with supply chain transparency, energy and water independence, and digital design integration will help position sustainable construction as the default—not the exception. The tools and knowledge exist—we now need coordinated action from educators, regulators, and industry partners to put them into practice.

Q: What is next for you?

Following my year at UVA, I am joining the faculty at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, where I will continue to focus on prefabrication, modular systems, and off-site construction as catalysts for housing innovation. I am also Co-Director of the Housing Innovation Challenge, a national collegiate design-build competition focused on scalable, affordable, and resilient housing. I hope to continue advising UVA and collaborating across institutions to build shared capacity around design-build education. With many aligned priorities between UVA, Virginia Tech, and our broader professional network, I see meaningful potential for joint research and student engagement in the coming years.