Architect David Rockwell draws on his love of drama and spectacle to create fantastic, high-impact restaurants, malls, airline terminals and theater sets. Shortly after 9/11, he collaborated with other designers and architects to create a viewing platform at Ground Zero in New York.
Why you should listen to him:
David Rockwell does dramatic design, from the sleek interiors of Nobu and the W Hotels to the exuberant Mohegan Sun Casino, from the pop-tastic scenery for the Broadway musical Hairspray to the sublimely hilarious high-modern sets for Team America: World Police.
He won the Presidential Design Award for his extraordinary work renovating New York's Grand Central Station, and his firm, the Rockwell Group, is designing the interior for the JetBlue terminal at New York's JFK Airport. Rockwell has published several books on his architectural and design process, including Pleasure and Spectacle -- two qualities that abound in his work.
But Rockwell is no mere drama queen. His designs for a temporary viewing platform at Ground Zero, constructed in the days after 9/11, demonstrate his ability to tune in to the true requirements of each project. The result of a collaboration among several big-named architects, the viewing platform was low-key and even elegaic in its plywood simplicity, giving the city and the world a place to pay their respects.
"Rockwell always builds a bit of magic into his spaces. He uses materials and lighting to create the effect of being in a theater. To Rockwell, designing an environment means shaping an experience that lasts in the memory."BusinessWeek
