The Rockwell Group benefits from an interdisciplinary approach, with a wide range of projects ranging from large-scale buildings and products scenography. In this article by Shannon Sharpe, originally released on Metropolis Magazine as "The Way Rockwell " we learn seven ways that the Rockwell Group obtained a creative success. Read the full article below to find out what motivates this particular business and how it could serve as an inspiration to everyone in the field of design.
How Rockwell Group magic? "Pixie Dust" quips Marc Hacker in internal company "Thinker". All jokes aside, there is some truth here. From the bustling Quan Yin statue in TAO Downtown to all of Kinky Boots displacement, the free play of children led to the play of imagination area, a distinct sense of magic permeates each these projects. Each of them are driven not so much by a look or even a sensitivity, but the creative process always curious shape. "I know it sounds trite, but it's not about what is true today," says the founder and chairman David Rockwell. "It is to ask," what if? "" And if an architect could be as experimental as a leader? What if the staging has become a character? What if your environment could transform every step
In the world Rockwell Group, asking "What if?" - Also the title of a new book released by Metropolis Books in December to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the company, has led to an embrace of design at all scales. "On a given day, we could work on an exhibition, a park, a blueprint, a domestic airport, a hospital for children, and a nightclub," says Rockwell. "This confluence of things is probably what makes us unique. "The process behind these projects -The Rockwell way-is really a set of permissions to wander and explore.
1. Learn to Embrace Failure
"failure is terrible," Rockwell said. "But it is certainly part of the process." He recalls the company's initiative to build an arts incubator in downtown Manhattan post-9/11. "We talked, instead of waiting ten or fifteen years a cultural center, creating a short-term plan that was on the visual and performing arts, "he said." We had the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to find us a site. We made models. We raised a lot of money. "And then the neighborhood policy kicks in.
"The site was adjacent to a housing complex and although it was a large community, they did not want incubator next. The city recommended us to find a lobbyist." as they sat through meetings of the endless city, the designers found themselves beating their heads against the wall. "It was incredibly disappointing," says Rockwell. "But it was just not meant to be."
Yet this experience came the genesis of a new idea. " what I learned during this process was that I would have given the city a playground, "says Rockwell. "At a time Marc asked me what playground would look like, and I started to draw and think." His dream for the arts incubator are not dead, as he evolved into something else. in 2010, the first game of the imagination playground was born in Burling Slip, a playground near the South Street Seaport.
2. Technology is Your Friend
in 03, Coca-Cola commissioned Rockwell Group to create a design. Called Red studio studio, the unit has become a research and development team in-house. the unit has since evolved beyond Coca -Cola in the 30-member Rockwell LAB, which is dedicated to the creative problem solving. Their mandate is not only so, but why not. "We figure how to operate technology for us," says Adi Marom, the LAB interaction designer. "We do not limit ourselves. When we have fresh ideas, run with them."
in 2012, Shawn Sullivan Studio C in Rockwell Group was commissioned to design the new TAO Downtown. the client wanted a reinvention of the original location uptown and Sullivan and his team decided to use video projection to create a 16-foot Quan Yin statue that transforms seamlessly before the guests. They turned to the LAB to provide technology.
"We created the ten different pieces of content to video projection, "said Melissa Hoffman, director of the LAB." They'll birds flying through the petals statue falling and blowing. "It was a series of large theatrical gestures, but those who did not come with easy solutions, off-the-shelf. LAB wrote a custom software application that matched the video projection mapping, architectural lighting, and a DJ software into one system, which allowed all the space to be programmed and choreographed. "This was one of my favorite projects," Hoffman said, "because we literally did not know if we could pull it off."
3. Avoid Hierarchies
If there is something 'approaching a rule Rockwell Group, it is one which is not so much a rule as an ethic. "the best idea on the table of wins," said Michael Fischer, who was at Rockwell for two decades " it does not matter if you are a junior or senior. The best time is when you develop the concept. There is a playground of ideas. "
"I am here for about a tenth of the time like Michael," said JT Bachman. But the veteran and beginners have worked side by side on the TED stage in Vancouver, room 10 temporary seats reusable wood, designed in a little over a year with the installation taking about a week. "Although my role was more as a project manager," Fischer said, "JT was the one who built and developed the Rhino model. Some of it was my direction, given my experience in theater, but in in other respects, it was the initiative of JT. We would meet us review the model, and I would go, 'Wow, where did it come from? it's really cool. Let's run with it. "
4. Build a diverse team
Rockwell Group, has about 0 employees, is a transdisciplinary greenhouse. Hoffman spent years as a television producer; Fischer was theater consultant before arriving at the company and work on a wide range of projects, from a series of Planet Hollywoods the Film Society of Lincoln Center; Yulia Frumkin, who worked on home projects that include Mohegan Sun and Aria Hotel & Casino, just a medium of fine arts; Shunyi and Wu studied printmaking, ceramics and arts, and has worked on everything from product design to Imagination Playgrounds. "We see people all the time with glorious portfolios and large capacity, but I try to find in this work that their real driver," Rockwell said. "What are they curious?"
Even those who have studied architecture have greatly expanded their creative scope. There are many years the principal Barry Richards, a builder and leader P Studio, products designed for Michael Graves. Moving to Rockwell Group has provided an opportunity to continue to create products there carpet Shaw Hospitality Group and The Rug Company designed, but also to work on productions, events, hospitality, and public areas, to name a few. "He called P studio because it covers all products for playgrounds productions," says Richards. "We also do museum work, events, restaurants, a bit of everything."
P studio has recently completed the interior of the Centre for civil rights and rights to Atlanta with human rights activist Jill Savitt and director, writer and producer George Wolfe-which Rockwell Group has worked with a number of parts, including Lucky Guy and free man of color . But Wolfe did not make the Rockwell Group on board just because of his experience of the museum and the exhibition. "George is used to tell stories," Richards said. "He wanted the exhibition design to help drive the narrative. Even before conception, we spent a lot of time discussing what story points were. "
5. Do not be afraid to challenge your customer
Rockwell that, if the approach often takes the form of friendly provocation. "We challenge the customers and they are challenging us, "said Richard Chandler, architectural designer of the company studio G." We challenge recover. It is that tension that creates something very interesting "Often it is coming and done more that simply clarify an existing idea. it expands the meaning and purpose of the entire project.
NeueHouse a collective workspace in New York will soon be expanding to other cities, began with a modest program undefined. "When they came to us, they did not have complete clarity of the ultimate goal," says Greg Keffer, the studio director G. "It was a land of discovery for both of us." Finally NeueHouse grew up in a much larger idea that temporary work spaces. It is a cultural center in full swing with programs, lectures and exhibitions. This initial push / pull improved the final product for the customer and the other large group in need of challenge and woo :. the end user
a similar dynamic is at work in the design game. Rockwell and his team know that there are not that the director, and a small army of director of collaborators, that all be used, but the public and the game itself. "much of the challenge is working on what we can do differently while keeping the integrity of the show, "said TJ Greenway, who is currently working on you can not take it with you Richard Jaris. "Sometimes the game is very emblematic and you have to fight people's views of what it is."
" you can not take it with you is a perfect example, "Jaris added." It's a show-set 1930 which is usually done with a classic interior box-set. " Instead they decided to surprise the public by replacing the show down with an external three-dimensional rotation of a house. "Public expectations are already challenged as they enter the theater," said Jaris. "This is hopefully a delicious beginning for them."
6. Rules of Storytelling
"From the beginning, we always create a story about who the customer is and what space should feel like, "said Susan Nugraha about his work on the TAO Downtown team. "We have told the story of a speakeasy. The restaurant is at the basement, which is natural to the narrative." Led by Sullivan, Team Studio C has created a long series of arched portals made from reclaimed wood that allow arriving guests to catch a glimpse of the space before being rewarded with the final reveal: a size football field room with the giant transforming Quan Yin statue at the end. Designing a social space and a sit-down restaurant, the studio has worked with the client to create an interior that as speakeasies of the past- encourages guests to mingle. "You can get up between courses and talk to someone who has just arrived, or go just look at the Buddha," says Sullivan. "We have worked with partners TAO to take some social thing and make the even in ways that will surprise people. "
7. Stay curious
From the beginning, Rockwell own curiosity led the way. He had no expertise in game design, but as the son of a former dancer and choreographer mother once ran a community theater he had a passion for theater. He spent years meeting with the directors before working on its first game, and taking vital cultural awareness brought to work in the architecture of pop-up. It was his passion for creating a better world for children who provided the spark for the play of imagination area. "We invented the game field project," says Rockwell. "There was not a client; we were the client. In many cases, we have not waited for a knock on the door. We went out and solved the problem. "
At the end of the year there will be 3,000 Playgrounds Mobile Imagination. And now he is ready to face the stage, something he describes as a playground for adults, and parks. "We are studying the parks, we talk, and I gave choreographed tours of them, but we still have to design one. We came close, and we are finalist for a moment. "Rockwell pauses before adding," Passions and sights are not always looking for immediate results. Ultimately, it is about observing the situations of whether it is process, an object or a place and having the conviction that it can be better. "
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