Women in Design 2019 - 27

United Talent Agency, Los Angeles

Renaissance Atlanta Airport Gateway Hotel
Nixon Peabody law firm offices, Los Angeles

Photos by ERIC LAIGNEL, DAMIAN MIRANDA, and courtesy of ROTTET STUDIO

as the tales she dreams up, cutting her teeth at Fisher
Friedman Associates in San Francisco before joining
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, where she took
on her first interiors project designing Trammell Crow's
100,000-square-foot North American headquarters.
"With interiors, there are all these people, politics, and
personal input," Rottet says. "It's in some ways harder
and more complex, yet always satisfying to watch people
enjoy the environments we create."
In 2008, she launched her own firm, which now
boasts offices in Houston, Los Angeles, and New York,
and has since designed high-profile residential and
hospitality properties across the globe. As a part of her
process, Rottet interviews every stakeholder, including
support staff, servers, and housekeeping. "We dig deep,"
she says. "What keeps the company going? What's the
culture? In order to understand that, you need to talk
with a good cross-section of people."
She points to the ceiling in the offices on the top floor
of a building in downtown Houston where, inspired
by the client's industry, Rottet created a 3D drywall
ceiling with angular illuminated lines that reference the
crevices, cracks, and fissures where oil is often found.
"It's sculptural, beautiful, and unusual," she says, noting
that she can see it from the street below.
While design remains her focus, Rottet always
makes art a centerpiece (she curated the artwork for the
Langham, Chicago) and sometimes collaborates with
other prominent architects, including at the recently
opened Conrad Washington DC, where she worked
alongside Herzog & de Meuron.
No matter the scope of the project, her goal is always
the same. "I try to make the guest feel that they slipped
into another place," she says, comparing her work to a
movie set. "Every one of our spaces tells a story."
Women in Design 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Women in Design 2019
