Spokane-based NAC Architecture has merged with a Midwest architecture firm that specializes in designing health care facilities.

Effective Monday, Aug. 3, Columbus, Ohio-based Trinity: Planning Design, Architecture and NAC’s Spokane health care studio are now doing business as Trinity:NAC, according to a press release issued by NAC late Monday.

Founded here in 1960, NAC Architecture also has offices located in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Shanghai. Those offices and the Spokane operations not related to health care design will do business going forward as NAC, without “architecture” as part of the name. Founded here in 1960, the firm originally was named Northwest Architectural Co.

Tina Frank, NAC’s Los Angeles-based marketing director, declines to comment on the financial details of the merger.

The press release says Trinity’s leadership team will join the NAC’s executive team as well as its board of directors.

“This merger is not about getting bigger,” says Dana Harbaugh, CEO and president at NAC in the release. “Trinity and NAC share a common cultural commitment to personal service, quality, and design innovation.”

Adds Harbaugh, “Trinity’s strength in analytics complements our focus on research.”

The press release notes NAC and Trinity forged a relationship working together on projects starting more than a decade ago.

Bob Gesing, Trinity’s principal, says the merger gives the firm a better chance to “further a holistic approach to health, education, and well-being” with the desire to make a strong impact on communities.

NAC is the largest architectural firm in Spokane with a total of 75 employees, 24 of whom are licensed architects, according to information NAC provided to the Journal in May.

In an email response to the Journal, Frank says Trinity had 37 employees, all of whom will be retained in the merger. Companywide, the firm now has 237 employees.