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About :: Born in 1985, Vincent Vumbaco attended Clemson University, where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture in 2008. During the spring semester of his senior year he began work for Douglas Hecker and Martha Skinner of Field-Office. At Field-Office he conducted research concerning mass-customizable, affordable housing for post-Katrina New Orleans. As a result of this work, his approach to architecture is sensible, often letting function and material influence design. Later, under Doug Hecker he worked on the design and production of the Dry-In House, a concept of affordable emergency housing for Hurricane Katrina victims. The Dry-In House is meant to get the owner back to their home site quickly while providing the infrastructure an occupant needs (shelter, water, electricity). The owner is supplied with an inhabitable shell that is customizable prior to its fabrication. The key concept of the Dry-In House is to allow families to participate in the design of their homes. This gives the families some sense of authority and control in a chaotic environment such as post-Katrina New Orleans. Due to pre-fabrication and selection of materials and appliances, the Dry-In concept is not only affordable, but environmentally conscious as well.

After the design was finished, Vincent worked for Field-Office to help develop a unique construction process (using pre-fabricated truss components), helped raised $22,000 in donations, worked with manufacturers to order and fabricate components of the house, built a full-scale mockup of a section of the house, and is currently co-leading a team of volunteers and students in the erection of the house in New Orleans.

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