The outdoor terrace at the Equinox Hotel New York at Hudson Yards boasts an infinity pool and a human figure sculpture by Jaume Plensa A curving screen at Zaytinya restaurant in New York is made of two-toned blue glass discs From celebrity chef Melba Wilson, a rendering of Melba's Restaurant in Newark, New Jersey The main bar and lounge at the CIVILIAN hotel in New York evokes a theater's back of house Sushi Zen was a lot of thinking about narrative design and collaboration. What were you hoping to create when you started your own fi rm? There was no goal about being a small studio or a big studio, but there was an ambition and a curiosity to try lots of things. While our studio does many other things other than restaurants, hospitality as a thought process and as a rigor and as a kind of DNA was one of the building blocks. I believe in quantum leaps. You don't have to take litt le steps if you feel like you've done the work and you're curious about it. That led to being invited to speak at the TED conference for the fi rst time, and TED founder Richard Saul Wurman gave me some advice. He said, 'Don't just promote your work on stage. Talk about something you're an amateur at.' I talked about the relationship between theater and architecture. That was the beginning of four or fi ve years of me meeting with directors and sketching for free and having conversations around theater design that led to that avenue opening up. What was your fi rst professional foray into the world of theater? The Rocky Horror Picture Show was my fi rst show, and it was so incredibly thrilling. I almost turned it down because, having hospitalitydesign.com November 2022 083http://www.hospitalitydesign.com