Steam the Day Away in New York’s Latest Bathhouse Locale

Jason Goodman and Travis Talmadge founded Bathhouse to fill a gap in New York’s wellness scene. Somewhere between a luxury spa and a spartan Russian banya, it combines the social aspects of bathing culture around the world with moody lighting, modern amenities, and restorative treatments. Bathhouse debuted in Williamsburg in 2019. A second location just opened in January in Manhattan’s Flatiron District with interiors by Rockwell Group. (Colberg Architecture served as partner architect.)

How Rockwell Group Created an Urban Oasis for the New Bathhouse 

The project intrigued Rockwell Group founder and president David Rockwell, an Interior Design Hall of Famer whose firm celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. “An urban oasis was something I hadn’t done before,” he says. The 35,000-square-foot, three-story space is mostly underground: Guests enter on the ground level, but the pools, saunas, treatment rooms, and café are all below. The subterranean location evoked a sense of drama for Rockwell, who is also a Tony Award–winning set designer (his latest is the Broadway revival of Doubt). He and his team conceived a backstory based on the narrative template of the Hero’s Journey, creating a series of portals that lead visitors down to the baths.

“We added a ritualistic aspect to passing through the different spaces,” Rockwell notes. There’s a sense of adventure and curiosity as one moves deeper inside. On the ground floor, a black-granite wall with a vertical strip of light marks the staircase entry, while in the corridor leading to the below-grade treatment area, walls of layered travertine in slightly different colors—dark to light—allude to rock strata, as if descending through the earth. Other thresholds use fluted glass, mirrors, or compression; one domed vestibule has a Dean Barger mural. On the lowest level, guests receive the payoff: pools illuminated in tones corresponding to temperature. Some sit under inverted metallic-painted pyramids with a cavity that emits color-changing light, which you can only see from the water. It’s like discovering a mythic civilization under West 22nd Street. 

Explore the Newest Bathhouse in New York’s Flatiron District, Designed by Rockwell Group

David Rockwell: 2023 Interior Design Hall of Fame Icon

“Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major,” David Rockwell replies when asked what he’s working on next. He is fresh off a private recital of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, accompanied by a full orchestra (as well as notable guests Robert DeNiro, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jane Krakowski). The architect returned to classical piano lessons in 2016, picking up where he left off in childhood. In fact, at the Rockwell Group headquarters in New York, a former print room now serves as one of his practice studios. Just as Gershwin’s rhapsody has come to define the Jazz Age, the name David Rockwell has become virtually synonymous with the epitome of modern-day hospitality design. But his oeuvre extends far beyond restaurants and hotels.

“He manages to see the beauty in our diversity, using food, fabric, music, art, and design as his canvas to unite us all,” says restaurateur and Food Network personality Melba Wilson. She first worked with Rockwell 30 years ago on a proposed refresh of Minton’s Playhouse jazz club. More recently, as president of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, Wilson partnered with Rockwell Group on DineOut NYC, a 2020 initiative that developed a prototype of outdoor dining to keep restaurants throughout the boroughs—including her Melba’s in Harlem—in business during the early months of the pandemic. It’s one of the latest in a series of pro-bono projects instigated by Rockwell. Others include Stoop NYC, designing the annual Citymeals on Wheels fundraising event, and serving as the chairman of DIFFA for more than two decades.

“David is the opposite of the designer who is locked in a kind of hermetic, self-referential world,” states architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who has followed Rockwell from the beginning. “He’s interested in architecture as it relates to the human experience.” Rockwell applies that human-centered approach to the design process itself, engaging consultants with critical questions and inviting them to be a part of the conversation.

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Get Ready for 2024: See what’s next for Interior Design‘s Hall of Fame event with a peek at what we’re planning for the 40th annual gala. Discover Hall of Fame details.

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He is known for bringing in unexpected creative collaborators—choreographers, for example. A culture of collaboration is also in effect every day at all three studios. “It’s the thing I appreciate most,” says Rockwell Group partner Shawn Sullivan, who has been with the firm 26 years. Partner Greg Keffer agrees: “It’s led to our cross-disciplinary approach—and to a plurality of personalities and talents experimenting.” Keffer is the partner in charge of the Spain office, led day-to-day by principal Eva Longoria, a Madrid native who interned at RG New York as a student. “We’re constantly trying to break the boundary to do something even more special,” says Longoria, who adds that her studio is 80 percent female architects and designers—the same majority as RG’s executive team.

Their most recent collaboration is the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, which opened in Washington in October. It’s RG’s first higher-education project. “We brought fresh eyes to creating opportunities for connectivity and spontaneous encounters,” the architect notes. Many firms lean into a practice area where they’ve found success. But Rockwell makes a point of exploring new territory, possibly a function of his trademark curiosity. Adds Bloomberg: “David has a rare combination of imaginative creativity, technical brilliance, and deep civic-mindedness.”

Watch the Hall of Fame Documentary Featuring David Rockwell

Explore Hospitality Designs by David Rockwell

A Glimpse at Showstopping Set Designs

Higher Education, Transportation, and More Institutional Designs by Rockwell Group

A Closer Look at Works by 2023 Interior Design Hall of Fame Icon, David Rockwell

Rockwell Group Encourages a New York Tradition With Stoop NYC

The stoop is an architectural detail adapted from Dutch styles to cope with flooding. As the outdoor stairway proliferated, it began contributing to neighborhood socialization. Which is exactly what Rockwell Group intended with its pro-bono project, Stoop NYC in Jackson Heights, Queens. Its third partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation, after pandemic-response initiatives DineOut and Open Stage, Stoop translates the classic form into a freestanding piece of furniture that provides seating and storage (lightweight custom cubes can stow beneath the steps) and encourages community activities and even local pride, thanks to Deborah Wasserman’s neighborhood-inspired graphics. The project was initialy conceived for the city’s Open Streets program, but Rockwell Group is offering its drawings and fabrication overview free of charge for groups wishing to create their own Stoop, at rockwellgroup.com.

Rockwell Group Earns a Best of Year Award for the Moynihan Train Hall in New York

2021 Best of Year winner for Transportation – Small

The busiest transportation hub in the Western hemisphere, Pennsylvania Station’s current iteration has long been scorned as a poor replacement for the original McKim, Mead, and White building that was considered a beaux arts masterpiece. An ongoing expansion and renovation project hopes to restore it to its former glory beginning with the newly opened Moynihan Train Hall, an annex across the street by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill that relieves congestion by providing access to most of the station’s 21 tracks. Accordingly, Rockwell Group designed a ticketed waiting area for Amtrak and Long Island Railroad customers that brings the glamour back to travel.

Interior Design Hall of Fame member David Rockwell took inspiration from classic train stations, especially the old Penn; after all, the new hall is housed in the landmarked James A. Farley Building, designed by McKim, Mead, and White nearly concurrently. Curved benches and rounded walls are made of solid walnut slats, all of it highlighted by custom vintage-look sconces. That inviting material, along with nickel and bronze, were chosen to bring warmth to the 6,000-square-foot space. In addition to the four bench bays, there are freestanding high-tops served by custom-height barstools. Both are upholstererd in yellow and blue leatherlike, easy-to-clean vinyl, the latter color repeated in a glass installation that’s been laser-etched with graphics reminiscent of the framework of the hall’s roof. On other walls, photographs by Stan Douglas depict historic scenes from the original station.

Rockwell Group: David Rockwell; Richard Chandler; Dionysios Kaltis; Hilli Wuerz; Emir Dogan; Hayden Minick

Interior Design’s Best of Year People Winners

Firm Leaders: Workplace

David Galullo and Sam Farhang

Rapt Studio
Project: MDR Truss, Marina Del Rey, California

Lifetime Achievement: Design

Orlando Diaz-Azcuy

ODADA
Project: Ram’s Gate Winery, Sonoma, California

Firm Leader: Healthcare

Jenna Knudsen

CO Architects
Project: Arizona State University Health Futures Center, Phoenix

Rising Star: Product Design

Ara Thorose

Ara Thorose
Product: 7M chair

Firm Leaders: Hospitality

Vera Chu and Kuang Ming Chou

Vermilion Zhou Design Group
Project: Green Massage Lujiazui, Shanghai

Design Visionary

David Rockwell

Rockwell Group
Project: Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas

Rising Star: Greater Good

Ryan Swanson

The Urban Conga
Project: Shifting Totems, Cleveland

Leader: Manufacturer

David Weeks

David Weeks Studio
Product: Sarus Mobile

Firm Leader

Nelson Chow

NC Design & Architecture
Project: Timber House, Hong Kong

Product Design Visionary

Phillipe Starck

Starck Studio
Product: Forest Club, Andreu World

Rising Star: Designer

Boris Lvovsky

DA Bureau
Project: Bio My Bio, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Interior Designer: Hospitality

Idmen Liu

Matrix Design
Project: Pearl River Enterprises Praise of Time, Guangzhou, China

Interior Designer: Workplace

John Mulling

Gensler
Project: Hudson River Trading, New York

Interior Designer

Pallavi Dean

Roar
Project: Early Childhood Authority, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Architects

Tryggvi Thorsteinsson and Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdottir

Minarc
Project:  Mildred House, Los Angeles

Designer: Graphics/Branding

Giona Maiarelli

Maiarelli Studio
Project: NeoCon collateral, Chicago