Frank was born to be an architect. At 13 his artist father, thinking architecture was a respectable way to be an artist, gave him Frank Lloyd Wright's book "A Testament" and his fate was sealed. Frank grew up in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, graduated from Lawrence Technological University with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture in 1978, left for Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture in 1979 and graduated with a Masters in Architecture in 1982. He became a registered architect in 1984 and worked for several noted architectural firms in New York City. In 1987 he established his own architectural firm in the New York City metro area and taught architecture at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey until 1997. In 1997 Frank moved back to Michigan to work for Allen & Laux Architects in Detroit. After three productive years there, in 2000, he again established an architectural firm, FX Architecture in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Ken Frampton, the world-renowned architecture critic has called Frank Arvan "a brilliant young architect." He has won many design awards including two AIA design excellence awards and first prize in an international competition for an urban resort town in the Dominican Republic.

He is a Director on the AIA Detroit Board, writes articles on architecture and urban design and is on the Royal Oak DDA Infrastructure Committee.