FRCH Design Worldwide was an American

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and design firm headquartered in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio with regional offices in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Founded in 1968, it provided architectural, interior design, graphic design and brand strategy services to the retail, hospitality, restaurant and corporate office sectors. In January 2018, it formally merged with NELSON Worldwide and has since re-branded its operations under the "FRCH Nelson" brand.

History

FRCH was founded by James T. Fitzgerald

FAIA Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) is a postnominal title or membership, designating an individual who has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Fellowship is bestowed by the institute on AIA-membe ...

in 1968 as ''James T. Fitzgerald/Interior Architecture (F/IA)''. The practice largely focused on the interior design of large corporate spaces as Fitzgerald believed interiors were largely ignored by architects at the time. F/IA changed its name to ''Space Design/Interior Architecture (SDI)'' following the acquisition of a local competitor in 1972. In 1978, the company secured its first international project, a Hilton hotel in

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. In 1990, the firm merged with New York-based architecture firm Hambrecht Terrell International, becoming ''HTI/SDI'' with offices in New York and Cincinnati. The new entity grew to become one of the most prestigious retail design companies worldwide with clients such as

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (colloquially Marshall Field's) was an American department store chain founded in 1852 by Potter Palmer. It was based in Chicago, Illinois and founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, ...

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

and

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

. In 1995, the firm appointed retail executive Joseph Cicio as vice-chairman and

chief creative officer The title Chief Creative Officer (CCO) typically describes the highest-ranking position of a creative team within a media company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, ...

, and as part of a major restructuring plan, HTI/SDI changed to its present name of FRCH Design Worldwide representing the key partners of the firm: James T. Fitzgerald, Kevin Roche, Joseph Cicio and Ed Hambrecht. Following its corporate restructuring, FRCH expanded to the international market, offering architectural and design services to international retailers in Brazil and Mexico. In 2011, the firm collaborated with renowned Mexican architect

Michel Rojkind Michel Rojkind (born December 18, 1969, in Mexico City) is the founding partner of Rojkind Arquitectos and according to Forbes Life a representative of a Mexican generation of architects transforming the country. His office was recognize ...

in the interior design of the new

Liverpool Interlomas Liverpool Interlomas is a branch of the Liverpool (store), Liverpool department store chain in the Paseo Interlomas shopping mall, in the Interlomas neighborhood of Huixquilucan, Greater Mexico City. The structure was designed by Rojkind Arquitec ...

Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City is the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico (). It encompasses Mexico City itself and 60 adjacent municipalities of Mexico, municipalities of the State of Mexico and Hi ...

. In 2015, FRCH opened a new office in

. In 2016, the firm developed the design concept and brand strategy of Home2 Suites, an extended stay hotel brand of

Hilton Worldwide Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the company is now led by Chris ...

and in 2017, it developed the prototype design, branding and graphic design for Hilton's new brand Tru by Hilton, directly targeting at younger and more budget-conscious travelers. FRCH grew to become a leading architecture firm in the retail and hospitality sectors by expanding its portfolio to include clients such as

American Girl American Girl is an American line of dolls released on May 5, 1986, by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to fourteen-year-old girls of various ethnicities, faiths, nationalities, and social classes throughout different time periods ...

Darden Restaurants Darden Restaurants, Inc. is an American multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Darden has more than 1,800 restaurant locations and more than 175,000 employees, making it the world's largest full-service restaurant c ...

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational corporation, multinational hospitality company headquartered in the 150 North Riverside, Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchise ...

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Subway,

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

and

Tiffany & Co Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is an American luxury goods, luxury jewelry and specialty design house headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Tiffany is known for its luxury goods, particularly its sterling silver and diam ...

. In 2017 Interior Design Magazine mentioned FRCH as one of the top hospitality architecture firms for and in 2018, FRCH was named Design Firm of the Year by ''design:retail'' magazine. In 2018, it was announced that FRCH would merge operations with NELSON Worldwide, a large architecture and interior design based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Selected projects

* Home2 Suites by Hilton: Interior/exterior concept and graphic design. * Tru by Hilton: Concept development, graphic design, interior design, and branding *

: Interior design. * Great American Tower at Queen City Square: Ground floor lobby interiors. *

Fifth Third Bank Fifth Third Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the parent company of Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank), which operates 1,100 branches and 2,400 automated teller machines, which are located in 11 states: Oh ...

: Corporate headquarters renovation in Fountain Square. * Southern facade of the Kenwood Towne Center Shopping Mall in

References

{{reflist Architecture firms based in Ohio Companies based in Cincinnati 1968 establishments in Ohio American companies established in 1968