Wildly Creative Architect David Rockwell Lends His Uncoventional Wisdom

The architect has designed everything from hotels to restaurants to a playground, and even a Tony-winning Broadway set.

The Rockwell Group

David Rockwell is an architect, but it might be more accurate to call him a designer of experiences. Based in New York with satellite offices in Madrid and Shanghai, his wildly creative firm, Rockwell Group, is recognized for designing hotels for brands like W, Andaz, and Edition, and restaurants such as Nobu. But earlier this year, Rockwell also won his first Tony Award for best scenic design of a musical for "She Loves Me"—one of the three shows currently on Broadway whose sets he has created.

The rest of his portfolio reflects the diversity of some genius inventor's workshop—a collapsible theater for TED; Imagination Playgrounds, with giant, curiously shaped building blocks; Brightline commuter trains for Florida; and the Shed, an arts institution for Manhattan with an enormous 120-foot-high retractable shell, designed with Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

"I believe that good design applies across the board, and I'm not afraid to take chances," says Rockwell, whose studio now includes some 250 co-conspirators. "It's a dream coming in here every day."

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A Creative Childhood
The Rockwell Group

Rockwell's Tony-winning set design for the Broadway musical "She Loves Me."

 I grew up on the Jersey Shore and always had an innate push to build things. My earliest memories are of making Rube Goldberg–like contraptions out of boxes, rallying my brothers and neighbors to help. I was making environments like spook houses and carnivals. 

 At the same time, my mom helped start a summer theater group that was like something right out of "Waiting for Guffman." For me, it was hypnotic. It ignited my interest not only in building and making but in storytelling.

Designs That Tell A Story
The Rockwell Group

 When I design spaces, I think about choreography and pacing. Radio City Music Hall is one of my favorite buildings. Certainly, there's the glory of the big room. But before you get there, you come into a vestibule, pop up into a soaring space with a stair, and then move through the entrances. That procession matters.

 I'm also very interested in transitions—in theater, those are the moments where things open up and tell you stories. At the Chambers Hotel in Manhattan, for instance, I used laser-cut walnut doors to create an entrance portal that really conjures that sense of arrival.

The entrance of the Chambers Hotel in New York. 

It's All About Community
The Rockwell Group

The common area of NeueHouse's cowering space in New York.

• When I was 12, my family moved to Guadalajara, Mexico. It was the opposite of New Jersey, which was all about private homes. In Mexico, it was all about the public spaces—festivals and markets and bullfights—and I realized how design could mediate those spaces and help honor traditions. 

 The NeueHouse coworking spaces I designed in New York and Los Angeles are a good example. The design can flex and change. The light fixtures lower in the evening, and the food carts come out. It's a space designed around rituals.

Mixing Different Elements
The Rockwell Group

A private dining room at Nobu 57 in New York. 

 I always try to engage all the senses and explore the potential of texture and touch. Materials tell stories and convey ideas through their texture—a rough-hewn surface, like the scorched-ash tables at Nobu, conveys a very different idea than a highly polished surface. Rather than creating places where you feel like you can't touch anything, I encourage it. 

Color is a powerful element, and there's no reason to stay within the bounds of light neutrals. You can use color to create accent and direction within a space or to change a room with the seasons. 

To craft a narrative, start to collect the stuff you love and become your own curator. Look at Sir John Soane's Museum in London, which is an amazing reflection of one person's passion for art, architecture, and antiques.

Sometimes You Have To Go For It
The Rockwell Group

rendering of the Shed arts center in Manhattan's Hudson Yards. 

 I realized architects don't always have to wait for a client to call. We can make things happen ourselves. Imagination Playground may be my most personal project, and it was proactive and pro bono. I just decided to do it. 

 It's a set of giant blue foam blocks that kids can use to build anything. It grew out of nothing more than watching my own children play with boxes, and realizing they preferred making up their own rules. There are now 4,000 of these portable playgrounds around the world.

Designing Furniture That Multitasks
The Rockwell Group

 I originally found my way into product design through surfaces—wallcoverings for Maya Romanoff and rugs for Shaw and the Rug Company. My furniture line for Stellar Works, Valet, goes back to my interest in transitional spaces in a house. It includes pieces that can be used in an entry vestibule, a bar cart, and a table that's also a magazine rack. Every piece does more than one thing. 

 The collection for Knoll, Rockwell Unscripted, is a totally new direction for that company. They were more interested in my work in theater, play, and hospitality. They saw this large, emerging market for furniture that isn't just for a workstation or a conference room, but everything in between. The partitions can rotate, the conference tables can break apart for work sessions, and everything can move.

wool-and-silk rug for the Rug Company.  

The Importance Of Creative Exploration
The Rockwell Group

Rockwell's Unscripted furniture collection for Knoll. 

My latest book is called "What If...?", and that says a lot about the way I work. It's essentially an invitation to not know something at the outset. There's always excitement when you begin something new, and I want to attenuate that, to not answer the questions too quickly. It makes my studio unpredictable, fun, and challenging. A little uncertainty is a good thing, and it keeps you creatively charged. It's a gift. 

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