Milwaukee-based Rinka Chung Architecture announced today that it is rebranding itself as Rinka.
The firm was established by Matt Rinka in 2006 and now has 37 design professionals on staff, including two additional partners, Chad Griswold and Steve Morales. It has done design work for some of the most prominent building projects in Milwaukee including: The Moderne residential tower in downtown Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Bucks Entertainment Block, Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek, 84South in Greefield, OneNorth in Bayside, Lakefront Gateway Plaza, The Couture in downtown Milwaukee and R1VER in Bay View.
But the firm has also spread its wings beyond the Milwaukee area doing projects throughout the country, including the F3 Marina project in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and The Pier residential towers in Tempe, Arizona. The company has done projects in 15 states and more than 160 projects outside of Wisconsin.
“We are thankful to have grown through long-term relationships with our progressive and visionary clients,” said Griswold.
With the evolution of the company, including the addition of new partners, and the growth of the business to do work beyond the Milwaukee area, the time was right to consider a rebrand which includes a new name, logo and website, Rinka said.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” he said.
Rinka was the subject of a 2011 BizTimes Milwaukee cover story. He was born in Seoul, South Korea. Chung was his birth name, which he incorporated into the name of his company. When Rinka was 5 years old, he was adopted by Jon and Michele Rinka, who raised him in Oconomowoc.
The shortened name for the architectural firm “reflects the firm’s evolution into a multi-disciplinary architecture and design collective with broadened firm leadership,” the firm said in the announcement of the rebrand.
Despite the name change, “we’re the same firm,” Rinka said. “Our vision hasn’t changed.”
“We specialize in creative problem solving and innovative placemaking to create meaningful experiences for people” said Morales.
