RHETROACTIVE —the name a merger of the partners’ names— was launched as an independent firm in 2012, but started life as a boutique design lab within former Imagineer and Landmark Entertainment founder Gary Goddard’s Goddard Group. Steve Trowbridge & Tim Rheault formed RHETROACTIVE as a “shingle” inside of Goddard’s company to focus specifically on hotels, restaurants, and retail spaces, areas where they felt the creativity from the themed entertainment industry could be applied in innovative, ground-breaking ways.
Over the course of six years, this division worked on a diverse array of hospitality and retail projects, from the Tropicana Mega Resort in Las Vegas and the Galaxy, Macau resort where they developed the architectural concepts, master planning and food & beverage program to the Grand Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia and The China Cultural Heritage Expo in Chengdu, China. All the while, they developed several high profile F & B projects in Los Angeles, including Sunset Beach on the Sunset Strip and Rockwell VT in Los Feliz.
Rheault notes, “By 2011, we realized that while still very much at an attractions-centric design firm, we were fielding requests to work on more and more brand, hospitality, retail, and cultural/community projects.” It was this growing demand that planted the seed to launch an independent firm, with strong roots in the world of entertainment and leisure and the goal to implement immersive, experience-driven design to a wider reach of mainstream clients.
RHETROACTIVE is organized around a collaborative practice model, reflecting their design principles and work style. Trowbridge and Rheault set the overall vision and work with their core team, consultants and synergistic partners to serve their clients.
For more information, visit rhetroactive.com