Over the last decade, Frank Repas has contributed notably to the evolving urban character of the dynamic center of Shanghai, and undertaken large-scale planning commissions elsewhere in China and the Middle East. His work has been characterized by innovative use of major urban sites to integrate functions above and below the city surface in a livable, ecological urbanism filled with allusive forms.
He established an international practice – Frank Repas Architecture – in 2000, after securing a competition for the 400-meter long Dongchang Harbour office complex within a block of the three iconic supertowers of the Pudong district of Shanghai. This was followed by a 2004 commission for the landmark Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal on a kilometer-long site beneath a public park adjacent to the historic center of Shanghai, the Bund. Other projects followed, always with the urban surface as a key design element.
To illuminate the motivations underlying these projects, two books are scheduled to appear in 2012. One will focus on the practice of the office with essays by celebrated scholars. The other volume, being published in Barcelona, is a survey of major transportation facilities of the new century.
To date, the firm has completed 14 buildings and building complexes in Shanghai, and has been commissioned for master plans in other locations in China and elsewhere, ranging between five to ten million square feet. Recently, the Shanghai Terminal received the platinum Award of the ASCE for its advanced engineering, done by Weidlinger Associates in collaboration with Frank Repas Architecture.
Prior to his work in China, Frank was the designer of several, very large urban design projects in New York City, where he has been a registered architect since 1975. He was a senior associate at a large Manhattan firm and collaborated with Rafael Vinoly and Raquel Ramati Associates.
Frank earned his architectural degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he also received the James Templeton Kelley Prize. He has been an invited guest critic at Columbia University, Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design.