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Robert Frasca, founding design partner of ZGF Architects, died Jan. 3 from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He was 84.

The longtime fixture in Portland’s architecture scene arrived here in 1959 after earning a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan and a master’s in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He began by taking part-time positions with Wolff and Zimmer Architects (a precursor to ZGF) and the City Planning Commission.

鈥淪tewardship of resources is something that was naturally a way that Bob worked,鈥� said Jan Willemse, managing partner at ZGF’s Portland office.

After spending 18 months traveling in Europe and Turkey via a fellowship from the University of Michigan, Frasca returned to Portland. Then he rejoined Norm Zimmer and along with Brooks Gunsul formed Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) in 1966.

One of Frasca’s most revolutionary ideas stemmed in part from his experience in city planning. He would keep in mind the context of surrounding neighborhoods when designing buildings. At the time, most buildings were designed as isolated structures with little thought given to how they would interact with their surroundings.

鈥淗e always said things like how much he valued the existing context,鈥� Willemse said. 鈥淗e was always embracing and enhancing cities by doing an additive building. He looked at it as a bigger dance with the existing context.鈥�

Frasca was instrumental in many projects that became major landmarks in Portland. He led designs of projects such as Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the Oregon Historical Society campus, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Oregon Convention Center and Portland International Airport.

鈥淗e liked doing buildings for institutional clients because they were built to last,鈥� Willemse said. 鈥淭he Vollum Institute, at OHSU, became a prototype for other projects. He considered it a catalytic starter.鈥�

Educational design accounted for a large part of Frasca’s work, including buildings at the University of California-Berkeley, Cornell University, Duke University, Stanford University, Williams College, Emory University, the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University. He also sat on the University of Washington architecture commission for 27 years.

鈥�(Educational projects) are the cultural backbone of an area,鈥� Willemse said. 鈥淗e felt those projects were 100-year projects that were serving society.鈥�

The LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City was one of Frasca’s more unusual projects. In order to keep the enormous project from dominating other landmarks in the city, he submerged all but approximately two stories of the building below ground. The project included seating for 21,000 people and a four-acre roof garden at a time those were uncommon.

鈥淭hat building is larger than the Moda Center,鈥� Willemse said. 鈥淗e chose to make it unimposing and compatible with the surroundings. He made the building almost modest by scale.鈥�

Frasca also designed embassies and consulates in Turkey, Bulgaria, the Philippines and South Africa.

Frasca helped lead ZGF to the AIA Architecture Firm Award in 1991. Later in his career, he helped judge numerous AIA awards sitting on juries for the AIA National Honor Awards program, the AIA Committee on Design and the AIA Topaz Awards program.

Frasca is survived by his wife, Jeanne Giordano; children Andrea and Jason by his first marriage to Marilyn Buys (deceased in 2000); grandson Nicolas; sister Joyce Broderson; nephew David; and sister-in-law Lorraine Giordano.