ROOM's Designers on Design Series Tackles AI, Color, and Cookie Cutter Aesthetics

The third installment of Designers on Design sits Becca Roderick, executive director of interior design at Morris Adjmi Architects, across from Laurent Lisimachio, a design principal at Gensler—two practitioners whose portfolios span landmark Manhattan commercial towers, Four Seasons residences, and adaptive reuse condos, yet who share a conviction that great interiors begin with listening, not with a predetermined look.

Roderick, a sociology major turned designer, and Lisimachio, a classically trained Parisian architect who crossed the Atlantic in 2000, quickly find common ground in the idea that New York City itself is their most reliable studio. “Beauty in New York is in the grit,” Lisimachio says. “A subway ride or a drive across the Brooklyn Bridge will show a pattern of light, a juxtaposition of textures—inspiration sometimes comes from places that are subtle, but sometimes it’s a little hidden.” Roderick agrees, pointing to a city where even sidewalk weeds carry a lesson: “The beauty is in the grit because something is bubbling and flourishing in a space that maybe is a little harder, a little more rough around the edges.”

The conversation moves from color theory—a spirited red-and-blue standoff that Lisimachio concedes while wearing red shoes and blue pants—to AI adoption, the pressure of rising client expectations, and the conviction that design’s future will be “more human than ever.”

Both are contextual designers who resist cookie-cutter aesthetics; both see constraints like low ceilings or limited light as invitations rather than problems. And both land on a shared thesis about quality over quantity. “A beautiful space is just the baseline,” Roderick says. “You have to go beyond the aesthetics—it’s about the experience.” The previous two episodes paired Ghislaine Viñas with Rodolfo Agrella and Paolo Ferrari with Danu Kennedy, respectively; episode three makes clear that the series’ formula keeps surfacing the kind of candid, craft-level exchange the industry could use more of.