Rockwell Group

Rockwell Group is an interdisciplinary architecture, interior design, and set design practice founded in New York City in 1984 by architect David Rockwell. Its work connects buildings, interiors, live performance, and interactive environments through narrative storytelling. Theater, craft, technology, and the ways people gather inform an approach that considers both the overall spatial experience and its individual details.

The practice works across hospitality, dining, cultural institutions, residential developments, workplaces, and entertainment venues. Its architectural and interior commissions range from hotels and restaurants to museums, public gathering spaces, and transportation environments. Product design extends this work into furniture, lighting, textiles, hardware, and other elements developed for interiors.

Architecture, hospitality, and performance

A longstanding collaboration with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert De Niro has produced Nobu restaurants and hotels internationally. Other hospitality and dining work includes The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Civilian Hotel, Equinox Hotel, Eleven Madison Park, and projects for W Hotels. These commissions sit alongside cultural and public projects such as the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center and the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Rockwell Group collaborated with Diller Scofidio + Renfro on The Shed and 15 Hudson Yards in New York. Its broader portfolio also includes JetBlue Terminal 5 at JFK International Airport and exhibition spaces for the National September 11 Memorial Museum, reflecting work at scales ranging from individual interiors to major public destinations.

Theatrical design is another strand of the practice. David Rockwell’s scenic work includes Broadway productions of Hairspray, Kinky Boots, and She Loves Me, as well as stage designs for Academy Awards broadcasts. This connection to performance also informs the firm’s architectural approach to movement, atmosphere, and audience experience.

Interactive environments

The in-house LAB at Rockwell Group brings experience design and interactive technology into the practice. Its work includes responsive environments and installations such as Luminaries at Brookfield Place and Lawn at the National Building Museum. Together, the architectural, scenic, product, and interactive disciplines allow the studio to develop projects across physical spaces and digital experiences.