The Anatomy of a Welcoming Space — David Rockwell
Future of StoryTelling (FoST)
Architect David Rockwell joins Charlie Melcher to discuss the profound intersection of architecture, theater, and storytelling. Rockwell sha
Key takeaways
- Designers should embrace uncertainty and use it as a life-giving force in the creative process.
- The foundation of great design lies in deep research into the history, client, and 'emotional DNA' of a project.
Main topics
- The intersection of architecture and theater
- Design process and research methodology
Notable quotes
I don't want to take a project where I know the answer before we begin.
Conclusion
The episode provides a masterclass in how intentional design can foste
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:02) I'm Charlie Melcher, your host for the Future of Storytelling podcast. Welcome. Our guest today is David Rockwell, founder and president of the Rockwell Group, a 350-person cross-disciplinary architecture and design firm based in New York City. I'm especially excited to talk with David, not only because he's an extraordinarily talented and accomplished designer, but because he brings incredible thoughtfulness and generosity to his work and community. He has a deep belief in the power of design and storytelling to make our lives better. As the visionary behind Rockwell Group, David has shaped how we experience spaces, food, theater, and culture. He's perhaps best known for redefining modern luxury dining through his design of the renowned Nobu restaurants and for his signature work in boutique hospitality through the W Hotels. David has also designed Broadway sets for hit shows including Hairspray and She Loves Me. In addition to winning a Tony Award among several nominations for scenic design, he's received two Emmy Awards, was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America, and was included in Architectural Digest's AD100 Hall of Fame. The Rockwell Group has also been named by Fast Company as one of the world's 50 most innovative companies. In this episode, we talk about his path to architecture and what it means to have a design practice rooted in storytelling. We also recorded a live Q &A with members of our Foss Explorers Club community. Stay tuned to hear their questions and the lessons David has to share with us. With that, I hope you enjoyed this conversation with David Rockwell. Speaker 2 (2:16) David, welcome to the Future of Storytelling podcast. So nice to have you here. Nice to be here. Thanks for having me. So I thought we might start by going back to the beginning. Tell me a little bit about your background, your upbringing, and how that brought you to become the renowned architect that you are today. Speaker 1 (2:36) So I came from a large family, five boys. I was the youngest. We moved around a lot. My dad passed away when I was three. My mom, who had been a dancer in vaudeville, remarried. And I think that shared experience is something that space and design and sort of craft can really impact. So the way that expressed itself in my case is we moved to New Jersey and my mom started a community theater there. And everyone in my family was a part of it. In this sleepy, beautiful suburb with big, giant houses, I wasn't interested in the big, giant houses. I was interested in the way this opportunity for people to collaborate and that it kind of electrified and brought people together, created this kind of magic, this momentary magic that marked a moment. So that was the very earliest moments. I went back. to that Jersey Shore Theater, which was really our school, our little school auditorium with my daughter a few years ago. She's now 24. And it was so teeny. It was so, it was so small. And it was just a reinforcement on those memories that are so charged. So from community Speaker 2 (4:00) theater and your mother doing dance and choreography, you found your way to becoming an architect. Was that a natural path? I mean, you could have gone into lots of things. I'm just curious what made you decide to design buildings? Speaker 1 (4:15) I would describe it as a very fortunate, lucky guess to go into architecture. One of the things that influenced that was when I was 12, my mom, my stepdad, and my brother and I, without much... Explanation why, we packed up the station wagon and drove to Guadalajara, Mexico. It was a chance, first of all, to explore something totally new and to see a place that was incredibly theatrical, but not about theater. You know, it was a city full of marketplaces and bull rings and mariachis. And so I became fascinated with Mexican culture, Mexican sense of color. I went to Syracuse University. Our first week in a five-year Bachelor's of Architecture program, I heard Buckminster Fuller speak at Hendricks Chapel. And I'm being generous when I say I understood every fourth word. We had all of these experiences that were so charged and terrifying. I went to my first-year design professor who had assigned a class where we had to go out on campus and draw something. And I had taken off one of my Mexican sandals. drew like a still life near the tree. And I looked over to my right and this kid, Jeff Hill, was drawing an M.C. Escher version of the entire campus. So I went to Siegfried Snyder, my basic design professor, almost in tears. And I said, I think I may have made a mistake. I can't draw like that. And he said, well, maybe you have a little less to unlearn than other people, but stick with it for a year and see how you do. Speaker 1 (5:57) it worked out, but it was a hunch. Speaker 2 (6:00) It's funny, I have some similar experiences of being in college as an undergraduate and feeling completely unworthy, feeling like everybody else was so creative and talented. And it's funny how those can be so motivating as emotions and that insecurity can lead to Speaker 1 (6:20) great things. I totally agree with that. And I think it's one of the things I've come to understand. in my studio here is giving people permission to engage with that sense of uncertainty. There's a lot of potential in uncertainty. And in fact, by and large, I don't want to take a project where I know the answer before we begin. I think that uncertainty can be life-giving. Speaker 2 (6:45) You mentioned not wanting to take on a project without having uncertainty. How do you start a project? Speaker 1 (6:52) Well, we start out with lots and lots of research. We'll want to know a lot about the history of a place. We'll do 18 to 20 big boards of research looking at who the client is, who the expected audience is, what is the sequence of spaces, what is the intended result, who are your partners. If it's a restaurant, we taste the food. We interview the chef and understand the history of the chef. We research the location, the history of the location. What's interesting is none of that linearly leads to a solution. You can do all of that, but at some point you have to just conjure something. And I think that's based on, you know, having a lifetime of interests and passions and looking around and constantly keeping your mind engaged and thinking through what I would define as like the DNA of a project. Ultimately, it's some version of an emotional. narrative. And I know narrative is something that means a lot to a lot of people and storytelling means a lot. In our case, we try and find some emotional DNA that will link to the service in a hospital or the ethos of the doctors or the cuisine of the chef so that the design grows out of some observation of what's going to make it special. Speaker 2 (8:19) Can I just say that we operate exactly the same way? Is that research and then we try to get to a foundational narrative, which is based in some sort of emotional truth about the project. When I say we, it's because we're creating stories and experiences, but so are you. Speaker 1 (8:40) Would you agree that you're doing the same? In our case, in many cases, We're creating the armature for the stories and the armature for the memories. But yes, I totally agree. And I think that something like Nobu, for instance, what an amazing gift to be able to create a