
David Rockwell
Long before turning his attention to architecture, David Rockwell harbored a fascination with immersive environments. Growing up in the United States and Guadalajara, Mexico, Rockwell was a child of the theater, and was often cast in community repertory productions by his mother, a vaudeville dancer and choreographer. He has brought his passion for theater and artistic eye for the color and spectacle of Mexico to his practice.
He founded Rockwell Group in 1984, a 250-person award winning, cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice based in New York City with satellite offices in Madrid and Shanghai. Inspired by theater, technology, and high-end craft, the firm creates a unique narrative for each project, ranging from restaurants, hotels, airport terminals, and hospitals, to festivals, museum exhibitions, and Broadway sets.
Projects include the TED Theater (Vancouver, BC); Chefs Club by Food & Wine (New York); W Hotels (New York, Paris, Singapore and Vieques); Nobu restaurants worldwide (New York, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Doha, Melbourne and Dubai); Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas; NeueHouse (New York and Los Angeles); Gato (New York); the Elinor Bunin-Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center; the Imagination Playground initiative (Burling Slip, Betsy Head Park, Imagination Playground products); The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas; Travelle at The Langham (Chicago); set design for the 2009 and 2010 annual Academy Awards; projects for Google worldwide; the Marketplace at the JetBlue terminal at JFK International Airport; the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore; the Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco; Maialino at the Gramercy Park Hotel; exhibition design for the future National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, GA; Ames Hotel in Boston; 15 Hudson Yards and Culture Shed in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro; set design for You Can’t Take It With You, Side Show, Kinky Boots, Lucky Guy, Hairspray, Catch Me if You Can, Harvey, The Normal Heart, and A Free Man of Color; Andaz Wall Street and Andaz Maui at Wailea; “Hall of Fragments,” the entrance installation to the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale; and product collections for Jim Thompson, Maya Romanoff, Shaw Hospitality Group and The Rug Company.
Rockwell’s’s numerous honors include the 2008 National Design Award by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for outstanding achievement in Interior Design; the 2009 Pratt Legends Award; the Presidential Design Award for his renovation of the Grand Central Terminal; induction into the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America and Interior Design magazine’s Hall of Fame; inclusion in Architectural Digest’s AD 100; three Tony Award nominations for Best Scenic Design; and four Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical. Rockwell Group was named by Fast Company as one of the most innovative design practices in their annual “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” issue.
He is the author of What If…? The Architecture and Design of David Rockwell (Metropolis Books, 2014); Spectacle, a book examining the history and public fascination with larger-than life manmade events co-written by Bruce Mau (Phaidon, 2006); and Pleasure: The Architecture and Design of Rockwell Group (Universe, 2002)
Known for his commitment to charitable organizations, David Rockwell currently serves as Chair Emeritus of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) and as a board member of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and Citymeals-on-Wheels.
Rockwell received his Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University and studied at the Architectural Association in London.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Edited by Michael Merrill
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published: October 2021
The first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into architect Louis Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. Based on unprecedented archival research, with over 900 illustrations and written contributions by Michael Benedikt, Michael Cadwell, David Leatherbarrow, Louis Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Michael Merrill, Marshall Meyers, Jane Murphy, Gina Pollara, Harriet Pattison, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley, and William Whitaker.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Forthcoming: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Forthcoming May 25, 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
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