Frank Repas Architecture

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 Awa