Today, Tony Award-winner David Rockwell received two prestigious honors from two top publications, having been named to Architectural Digest’s AD100 Hall of Fame and announced as the recipient of Interior Design’s first ever 2023 Icon Award as part of its 2023 Hall of Fame Awards.
AD100 is Architectural Digest’s annual list of top talents in interior decoration, architecture, and landscape design, and includes leading visionaries, icons, and innovators from the United States and around the world. The AD100 Hall of Fame is comprised of “icons who have left an indelible imprint on the fields of architecture and design” and whose “work continues to inspire.”
Established in 1985, and hosted by Editor-in-Chief Cindy Allen, INTERIOR DESIGN’s Hall of Fame Awards will take place tonight, December 6, 2023, at The Glasshouse in New York City. Selected by Cindy Allen, and a nominating committee of Hall of Fame members, for the first time, a special Icon Award will be presented to David Rockwell, Founder and President of Rockwell Group, as they commence their 40th anniversary year.
Long before turning his attention to architecture, David Rockwell, FAIA, had a fascination with immersive environments. Growing up in the United States and Guadalajara, Mexico, David was a child of the theater, and was often cast in community repertory productions by his mother, a vaudeville dancer and choreographer. There, he experienced the power of collaboration in service of a shared artistic goal and witnessed the ways in which narrative and design created meaning and lasting memories. Later, he would bring his passion for theater and curator’s eye for the color and spectacle of Mexico to his practice.
Through this unique lens, David founded the cross-disciplinary architecture and design firm Rockwell Group in 1984. Now a 350-person practice based in New York with satellite offices in Los Angeles and Madrid, Rockwell Group emphasizes invention and thought leadership. Merging architecture, theater, craftsmanship, and technology to create unique narratives for each project, the firm’s work includes hospitality, theaters, cultural and educational institutions, transportation hubs, set design, products, exhibitions, festivals, and urban interventions that engage the public realm.
Projects include the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York (Restaurant and Lobby Interior Architect); The Bloomberg Center and Hopkins Student Center for Johns Hopkins University (Washington, D.C. and Baltimore); Nobu restaurants and hotels worldwide; CIVILIAN Hotel and its Olio Collection (New York).
Honors include the National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; the Presidential Design Award; the AIANY President’s Award; a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for She Loves Me; two Emmy Awards; the 2009 Pratt Legends Award; induction into the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America; Interior Design magazine’s Hall of Fame; and inclusion in Architectural Digest’s AD100. Known for his commitment to non-profit and community organizations, David Rockwell serves as the Chair Emeritus of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) and as a board member of American Theatre Wing, Citymeals on Wheels, and New York Restoration Project. He is the author of four books: Drama (2021), What If…? (2014), Spectacle (2006), and Pleasure: The Architecture and Design of Rockwell Group (2002).