Of note was a Flight Training Scholarship from the U.S. Army Air Corps his senior year, leading him to receive his pilot's license upon graduation.

Upon graduating from Columbia University, Rockrise accepted a job in the Canal Zone of Panama, where he was residing when the U.S. entered World War II, December 7, 1941.

Returning to New York City after the war, Rockrise went to work for Edward D. Stone, FAIA (’58), who at this time was one of the leading American architects exploring modernism.

As one of the ‘Backroom Boys,’ Rockrise worked under Sven Markelius and Le Corbusier, two of the group of world-renowned architects who designed the United Nations complex.

[4][5] Among other projects, Rockrise worked with then associate, Lawrence Halprin, FASLA (’69), on the award winning design for the landscaping of the Donnell residence in Sonoma County, California.

[6] The 1948 garden is “famous for its unusual abstracted forms” and is considered a “Modernist icon.”[7] In these early years, 1949–1953, Rockrise also taught at the School of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, and was the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

[9] Rockrise's early practice was focused on the design of award-winning residential projects, including: "He was one of the leaders of the modern California movement in architecture.

[13] In 1954, he was invited to Venezuela for several months to assist renowned Venezuelan architect Tomás José Sanabria in the establishment of that country's first school of architecture at the Universidad Nacional.

In 1957, Rockrise was commissioned to design the American Consulate in Fukuoka, Japan, in collaboration with the noted architects Hervey Parke Clark, FAIA, and John Beuttler.

In 1948, Rockrise married Margaret (Maggie) Lund Paulson, originally from Oregon and a Stanford graduate, who was the fashion editor of a San Francisco newspaper.

Service with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) included Northern California Chapter Vice-President (1960) and President (1961), Director of the California Council (1961), National Vice President (1969-1972), Chair of the Task Force on Social Responsibility, Trustee for the Urban Design and Development Corporation, and several design juries.

While serving as National Vice President for the AIA (1969–1972), Rockrise chaired a task force that secured a $1 million Ford Foundation grant for scholarships for African American students to attend architectural schools and innovated the concept of ‘urban design workshops,’ that would later come to be called Community Design Centers (CDC), where students gained practical professional experience.

In 1966, Rockrise was appointed by Robert Weaver, Secretary of the newly formed Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to be the first Special Advisor for Design during President Johnson's Great Society initiative.

Rockrise also served on the Reynolds Community Architecture Jury (1969), a distinguished group that visited, evaluated and recognized the best new towns worldwide, including Brasilia (Brazil) and Chandigarh (India).

Rockrise evaluated United States diplomatic facilities in Germany, Brazil, Venezuela and Dhahran (Saudi Arabia) .