The Nashville branch of Memphis-based architecture firm Looney Ricks Kiss has spun off from its parent, forming architecture and land planning firm Smith Gee Studios.

LRK's managing principal said the move allows both groups to be more effective.

"Our guys in Nashville have been an important part of our firm's success since opening the office in 1998," Principal Frank Ricks said. "However, given the current real estate market, we agreed that we could each more effectively service clients and better manage our risks in these challenging times as two entities rather than one."

SGS principal Fleming Smith said the move is a "pro-active strategic decision" allowing the companies to better weather the recession.

The firms will continue a partnership throughout the Mid-South and will continue their association on active projects in Nashville, Franklin, Winchester, Knoxville and in Kentucky and Alabama.

"We have been with LRK more than a decade," SGS principal Hunter Gee said. "Our mutual respect, our relationships and our shared passion for creating great cities, neighborhoods and addresses will lead to extraordinary opportunities together in the future."

SGS's team – which includes associates Greg Tidwell, Dallas Caudle and Patrick Weber – were heavily involved in the planning for the redevelopment of The Gulch, lauded as the South's first LEED-certified neighborhood development. The firm will maintain offices in Cummins Station.