America’s Top Hospitality Architects & Designers: Crafting Exceptional Spaces

To mark the publication of Forbes’ inaugural America’s Top Hospitality Architects & Designers list, we gathered a group of distinguished principals from listed firms—each not only an award-winning designer but a thought leader in the field—for a conversation about the core issues and opportunities that define progressive hospitality design today. Our aim: To bring to life the vital relationship between business leaders and those who design their exceptional spaces.

The participants represent the best of the best in the field: Roman Alonso is Principal of Los Angeles’s Commune. Karim Rashid is founder of New York’s Karim Rashid, Inc. Gray Davis and Will Meyer are cofounders of the New York firm Meyer Davis. Michael Hsu is Principal of the Austin, Texas, firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture. David Rockwell is Principal of Rockwell Group, a firm with offices internationally, including in New York and Los Angeles.

We plumbed this group’s experience and diversity of signature approaches to gain insight into how our hotels, restaurants, wineries, spa and wellness retreats, and other public spaces are orchestrated. But we received much more—not merely a picture of the future of design for shared experience, but insight into how Forbes readers can work with these visionaries to construct sublime settings for businesses and consumers alike.