The public architecture is composed of wooden posts set in rows at about sixteen-inch intervals. They are joined by braided cord and a framework of cane on both sides of the logs. This frame is filled with clay mortar that was pushed into it, leaving finger and cloth impressions in the mud. Vicus domestic architecture is rectangular in shape and is built of logs and perhaps wattle and daub. 

They are best known for their negative, or resist, painted and burnished surfaces as well as vessels of white paint on red clay. A three-phase sequence has been proposed for the Vicus style. White paint on red clay is present throughout the sequence, negative painting is absent during the first phase, and it appears in very scarce quantities during the second phase of the Vicus sequence. The second phase also marks the introduction of modeling techniques that exhibit close ties to the Gallinazo style. A marked presence of Gallinazo-related negative painting and Moche-style artifacts are only present in the last phase.