‘I want to keep building something meaningful’ – David Rockwell
To celebrate 40 years since David Rockwell set up his studio in 1984, there’s perhaps no better project for him to be linked with than the 10-month-old Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC). A monolithic cube in the northeast corner of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, covered in 5,000 panels of veined Portuguese marble that glow at night, it is a pulsating, powerful piece of architecture. You could call it a modern cultural cathedral – one which represents the determination and grit of all New Yorkers, their resilience and fighting spirit transposed into material form.
Rockwell shows a similar steely NYC resolve. ‘I’ve lived in Lower Manhattan for three decades now, and have been heavily involved in the rebuilding of the area since 9/11. It has meant a lot to work on that,’ he tells me when I meet him at the end of 2023 to discuss the approaching anniversary. ‘I feel extremely fortunate to work with the people I’m working with, and that’s certainly true with PAC NYC.’
Interestingly, it is not the structure’s impressive exterior that Rockwell was charged with creating, but the lobby areas and a brilliantly buzzy restaurant called Metropolis, with an incredible topographical light-show of a ceiling, half something from the film Dune, half Academy Awards ceremony (an event that Rockwell has designed three times). There’s the link to theatre and hospitality, and a coherent approach to the use of public areas – ‘I’m really thrilled by the way the lobby space feels like some kind of flowing movement,’ he enthuses – all themes that Rockwell and his team have come back to again and again over the past 40 years.
When he was a child, Rockwell’s family would bring him to New York City to see shows such as Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, with slap-up meals at Schrafft’s beforehand. It was the first time he made the link between theatre and restaurants as ways to bring people together and create instant communities. ‘This idea is so important to me,’ he says. ‘Making places for people to engage, places where people feel connected.’
‘If you want to create one memory in the theatre, there are 10 or 15 professionals who will have been involved in that memory,’ he continues. ‘The people behind the set and lighting design, music, choreography, tech direction, etc, etc. At Rockwell Group, we think the same way about architecture: you bring together all these skills and influences to create memories.’
Rockwell’s father died when he was young, and the family moved around between different cities and countries. ‘There were lots of elements outside of my control,’ he says, ‘so I started building things, creating little buildings in boxes. I realised you could have an effect on what you made, which gave me a way to deal with the world. That sense of drive has never left me.’
‘I think I’ve come to realise that the energy required to build something versus the energy required to maintain something is very different,’ he continues. ‘I’m not interested in being in a place where we just maintain. Instead, I want to keep building something meaningful and making a difference through varied projects and vibrant relationships.’
Having studied architecture in New York and London, Rockwell founded his studio just five years after graduating. Forty years later, it has grown into a 300-person operation with satellite offices in Los Angeles and Madrid, specialising in a mind-boggling mix of work, from luxury hospitality to schools, cultural and healthcare projects, product and set design. Defining works have included numerous hotel schemes, such as New York’s first W hotel at Union Square in 2000 and the first New York Edition with Ian Schrager in 2015, both of which redefined the city’s hospitality landscape.
‘With the Edition, we wanted to move away from that idea of unapproachable minimalism, which was prevalent in a lot of spaces in the early 2000s,’ he says. ‘It had to be inviting.’ So, as with most Rockwell Group interiors, materials and textures were key, as was a palette of natural hues. There’s the signature theatricality, too, most notably in the lobby’s dramatic helix staircase. ‘Ian was interested in finely made materials, which affected many decisions, including the black-and-steel fireplace wall and the stairway’s outer curved-metal construction, with light-oak panelling inside.’
W Union Square is also a passion project for Rockwell and his team. Situated a stone’s throw from their offices, it was instrumental in showcasing the group’s ability to take on major restoration works, transforming the 1911 Beaux-Arts-style building into a celebration of craftsmanship, contemporary decorative arts and inspiration drawn from the lush greenery of the park outside, at a time when the urban boutique-hotel market was booming. Indicative of the success of the collaboration all those years ago, Rockwell Group is about to complete a full revamp and refurbishment of the property. ‘It’s rare to revisit a project and do a 25-year makeover,’ he says, laughing. ‘Especially as you can get it right the second time!’
When I ask Rockwell how it feels to reach such a milestone, he replies with the same blend of humility and hubris that has got him where he is today. ‘Of course there’s gratitude there,’ he says. ‘Also, a slight sense of disbelief and a newfound conviction that 40 years for a studio is young, as I definitely have a desire to create so many new things.’ And that’s exactly what he’s doing. The output of the studio’s different departments is nothing short of staggering, with numerous recent or new restaurant openings, product launches, public spaces and international hospitality projects all set to coincide with this year’s celebrations.
As ever, ambition is not in short supply. As with Metropolis at PAC NYC, most of these new projects are almost cathedral-like in both scale and lighting. Take the darkly luxurious dining room of Coqodaq restaurant and the quasi-ritualistic setting of Bathhouse Flatiron, a new public-bathing space and spa in the heart of Manhattan. Additionally, Rockwell still talks of his obsession with the theatre. ‘I’m more and more into places made for performance, so I’d like to do an opera house.’
It’s perhaps this sense of community and of bringing people together that informs Rockwell’s positive take on life and, by extension, the work of his studio. As he summarises: ‘I think being optimistic and curious are decisions you make every day. In the face of so much change and trouble in the world, there’s a role for design in helping to create a society that is more sustainable, more diverse, more connected and more alive.’ rockwellgroup.com
