Sean Vance is a registered architect, teaching courses focused on a human centric understanding and the experience of a collaborative design philosophy. His interests are in universal design, architectural design, urban spatial form, conceptual product design, and research in the effects of form on human interaction and function of daily life.

Sean has taught a series of courses and studios in architecture and most recently a cross disciplinary course in the College of Design. This interdisciplinary course analyzes the interaction between people and their use of the environment in which they live. This is a philosophy that he embraces both academically and professionally, sharing with students and colleagues the pursuit of solutions respondent to the way people live within the constraints of their abilities. Most recently Sean has taught architectural studios on Urban Design that reflect upon Universal Design by having students analyze their solutions through the Center’s Principles of Universal Design and the AIA’s Principles for Livable Communities. Sean also works with students compiling an understanding of materials and material applications responsive to human senses to create a materials library. This exposes young designers to a language of experience for applications in universal design. Sean brings to the Center 15 years of architectural design experience, and his work has always been from perspective of the user, instinctively deploying the fundamentals of Universal Design.

Before joining the Center for Universal Design and School of Architecture faculty, Sean has been practicing architecture in a variety of communities throughout the East Coast and in 2004 began his own practice. Sean is a graduate of NC State’s Master of Architecture program where he studied architecture and industrial design and was a member of Tau Sigma Delta. Sean also serves the architectural community through his participation at the state and national levels of the American Institute of Architects.