Frick is one of the few students of Paolo Soleri with enough of a creative and innovative mind to create his own version of Arcology.
He studied architecture at Hong Kong U. While there he made a name for himself internationally with the proposed South China Arcology. This was part of a effort by architects and designers seeking innovative solutions for China’s cities.
However in 2002 Frick, 34, made news in the South China Post by submitting a blank piece of paper for Ph.D. dissertation (his only UHK thesis product). He called it an example of his "quantum arcology," which focuses on nonverbal creativity and said he planed a legal challenge to the school because his adviser failed to understand Frick's approach.
Later in 2005 he reunited with Soleri at an international conference in Suzhou, China called Towards a Sustainable Urbanization (October 14 - 17. 2005) which was hosted by the Institute for Postmodern Development in China, Soleri, John Cobb and alumnus Francis Frick participated in the event highlighting the benefits of Arcology to the Chinese. Then they went on to Shanghai for the Sustainable Urbanization Conference presentation at the Eastern China Normal University where Alumnus Francis Frick translated Paolo's lecture.
References:
PhD Dispute Quantum Divide. South China Morning Post. 5.11.02: http://www.scmp.com/article/379318/phd-dispute-quantum-divide
Arcosanti Daily Progress Blog: https://arcosanti.org/node/4882
Arcosanti Daily Progress Blog: https://arcosanti.org/node/4904?mini=calendar%2F2016-10
News of the World Recap: http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/nw021006.html
The Guardian. Education Unplugged. 10.23.02: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/oct/24/highereducation.internationaleducationnews
http://www.arkinautec.com/sustainability/arcology/