Behind The Scenes: The LAB at Rockwell Group

Inside Rockwell Group’s New York City office is the group of 20 architects, strategists, and technologists that make up The LAB. Led by Melissa Hoffman, The LAB  is an incubator devoted to the experimental projects that fall outside typical architecture and design: experiential pop-ups, exhibition spaces, branding and positioning, and cutting-edge technology systems. “I think something that’s unique to The LAB is that we’re very nimble. We create and build brands, innovation studios, experience centers, and artistic installations,” says Hoffman. “We have skill set that can move very smartly and efficiently to create any number of projects.”

Since its founding, The LAB has executed projects from responsive digital concepts at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, strategy, identity, and design concepts for Brightline, an express train service in Florida, and executive centers for Facebook and Google. “David [Rockwell] saw the value of physical and digital [more than] ten years ago,” said Hoffman. “And I think it’s one of the reasons that we’re still on the forefront.”

Considering the outside-the-box ethos of the studio and the forward-thinking nature of its portfolio, every project is singular. However, inside The LAB’s collaborative office environment, there are a few common denominators that seep into every one of its projects: deep research, storytelling, a multi-disciplinary approach, and Rockwell’s adage of never doing the same thing twice.

Waxing poetic about their favorite projects, the team gives an inside look at the strategic, creative, and often unpredictable day-to-day of The LAB at Rockwell Group.

Arianne Wotzka, Producer and Strategist

“The LAB is unique in that we are a think-design-build studio. We start with strategy, research, and narrative to inform our designs and then take it all the way through to the final installation of a project. As a project manager, I like to use the analogy that I am the glue that holds the project together—that hub for everyone. I wanted to work for The LAB because the output of our work can be considered durable, a marketing term used in contrast with nondurable to describe types of goods. We’re creating experiences—and experiences are indeed durable. People might have an experience that they’ll always remember, that can inform other experiences and/or their own work. My role at The LAB provides more personal fulfillment by creating potentially transformative experiences for others.”

“My first project—and one of my favorites—was the Hudson Yards Experience Center, which is an interactive experience where visitors learn about this new urban development model in an unexpected and creative way. The space is designed to emulate a series of galleries, infused with Rockwell Group’s take on immersion and interactivity through technology and content. My favorite tech component within the project is a ‘touchtable’ with a sensor above it. When objects on the table are touched, they trigger the surrounding screens to reflect different imagery based on their specific role within the urban development model. It’s a really fun way to leverage technology to allow people to create their own experience, which has always been part of The LAB’s mission.”

Dan Marino, Architect and Experience Designer

“Immersive storytelling is the root of our design conversations, but I always approach our projects as a maker with a fabrication background. When starting a new project my first thoughts are, how are we going to tell this story through design and then how are going to make it a real experience? The best part of being on such a multidisciplinary team is the ability to work side-by-side with such a diverse group of strategists and creative technologists—all with unique perspectives—to solve a problem. Our brainstorms get really out there and we challenge the limits of each others’ disciplines constantly.”

“I really loved The Diner [Surface‘s pop up installation and eatery at Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2018], because it showcased how The LAB can create something memorable with only a six-month timeline from concept to opening. It was obviously a branded event, with many partners, but it created a memorable experience that brought many people together. It created a space where people wanted to talk about design instead of just taking an Instagram.”

“Right now we are working on a design for The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. They approached us to create an experience for their Summer Block Party, which opens on the 4th of July. We immediately took to the concept of creating a ‘lawn’ because it brings the outside in and celebrates memories of summer. We really wanted to explore how lawns are an iconic gathering space, and how they can successfully bring people together for a picnic or a performance or even just to chase fireflies. We’re actually creating an AR app for people to chase fireflies! The goal really is to engage the senses and create a space where visitors can reminisce about their own childhood, as there is no singular memory for being on a Lawn.”

“We are working with the museum to create a schedule for interactive programming, which will focus on storytelling in various forms. So when you’re lying in a hammock on the Lawn, you can actually hear prominent storytellers reminisce about what a lawn meant to them when they were growing up, or grab a picnic blanket and listen to a soundscape we are creating to trigger memories. The museum also wanted us to create something that was pretty much zero waste, so instead of Astroturf, we have found a 100-percent recyclable product made from soybeans that will be repurposed after the installation closes.”

David Tracy, Senior Creative Technologist

“When we get a new project, there’s an ideation phase where we’re brainstorming and, as a technologist, my role is to really assess feasibility, but also to support these big ideas we have. For the most part, we can do anything! But for every project, we have to answer questions like, how can technology enable this, what kinds of tools will we actually use, and how can we prototype this and show something to a client?”

“We did a project a few years ago for 605 Third Avenue, an office tower in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, that is a really good example of technology, architecture, design, and experience design all working together in tandem and it has been very successful for that reason. We used the opportunity of the building’s lobby to create a transitional environment between the street and the office, and engage people in a meditative and artistic experience. Two oversized digital glass windows flank the building’s entrance and are made of a grid of LCD tiles. We designed custom software that generates abstract content, ranging from patterns driven by the weather to algorithmically derived geometry. So passersby and the building’s tenants get to experience this moment of kaleidoscopic performance and beauty that is unexpected in this context.”

Melissa Hoffman, Principal and Studio Leader

“I’m fascinated by people’s stories and the various mediums we use to tell those stories. I’ve always been interested in staying ahead of the game in terms of new ways to communicate, especially with technology. But it’s always about starting with a story—that’s what really drives our projects. We have a lot of different skill sets because of the variety of projects that we work on, so that automatically brings in different types of personalities. A lot of people talk about collaboration—that’s kind of an overused word—but we truly do collaborate with each other and with our clients. We have to learn each other’s languages.”

“Tia Clinic, for example, is an online health service app whose founders came to us to create a space designed by women for women. So, we worked with their team and got into the details of our own experiences around women’s health care, looking at every touch point in the clinical process, from booking your appointments, to where you leave your things in the exam room, to everything in between. We asked what those moments should ideally feel like and what’s a signature moment in those experiences. That’s what we like to think of as our proprietary way of solving these issues. If you can establish the feeling in every space and the signature moment in every space and put architecture behind this, you’ve got a package. It’s a very big leap for women’s health care and it’s certainly a big leap for a woman’s experience of going to the doctor.”

“Another one of my favorite projects is Luminaries [an interactive holiday light installation] at Brookfield Place because I loved the story, which is about giving back. Three glowing Wishing Stations invite guests to ‘send’ wishes to the canopy of lanterns above their heads, where they transform into light and color, creating a collaborative ritual. Each wish then results in a donation to a charitable organization. The structure itself was complicated so there was a lot of excitement when we were able to make it work.”