When "Frank Lucas, Architect" hung out his shingle in Charleston in 1963, he had a one-room office, a brand new architecture license and a drafting table built with an old door. His first projects included screened porch additions, a fire station, and a can wash at the local high school. A Clemson classmate, Sidney Stubbs, joined Frank in 1964 to form Lucas and Stubbs, Architects. The young firm entered a summer design competition for The Municipal Auditorium and Exhibition Hall for the City of Charleston. Despite a dramatic thunderstorm which flooded their basement office the night before the deadline, the team won the competition; when Gaillard Auditorium opened to critical acclaim in 1968, it won an Honor Award from the SC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
As the firm grew, so did its leadership. By 1978, additional partners included Vito Pascullis, Richard Powell, and Thom Penney; in 1982, the lengthy firm name "Lucas Stubbs Pascullis Powell and Penny Associates Ltd" was shortened to LS3P.
