The city of Las Vegas and often known simply as Vegas is the 28th-most populated city in the The United States, the most populated city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serve as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. Interest in the Architecture of Las Vegas began in the late 1960 s, when in 1967 architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown traveled to the city accompanied by students in to study its architecture.
Here are 15 places to visit in Las Vegas for the travelling architect:
1. Stratosphere Casino Hotel
Year: 1992
Typology: Observation Tower
Architect: Ned Baldwin
The Stratosphere Las Vegas (formerly Vegas World) is a hotel, casino, and tower located on Las Vegas Boulevard just north of the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, The United States. The properties signature attraction is the 1,149 ft (350.2 m) Stratosphere Tower, the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States, and the second-tallest in the Western Hemisphere. It is the tallest tower west of the Mississippi River and also the tallest structure in Las Vegas and the state of Nevada. The hotel is a separate building with 24 stories, 2,427 rooms and an 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) casino.
2. Fremont Street
Year: 1905
Typology: Public Street
Architect: John C. Frémont
Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley, and Nevada, besides the Las Vegas Strip. Named in honor of explorer John Charles Frémont and located in the heart of the downtown casino corridor, Fremont Street is today or was the address for many famous casinos such as Binion Horseshoe, Eldorado Club, Fremont Hotel and Casino, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Golden Nugget, Four Queens, The Mint, and the Pioneer Club. Fremont Street is designated between Main Street and Sahara Avenue in a northwest-southeast direction, although auto traffic begins at Las Vegas Boulevard. At Sahara, it leaves Las Vegas proper and continues as Boulder Highway.
3. High Roller (Ferris Wheel)
Year: 2014
Typology: Amusement Park Ferris Wheel
Designed by: Arup Engineering
High Roller is a 550-foot tall (167.6 m), 520-foot (158.5 m) diameter giant Ferris wheel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States of America. Owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corporation, it opened to the public on March 31, 2014, and is currently the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. It is 9 ft (2.7 m) taller than its predecessor, the 541-foot (165 m) Singapore Flyer, which had held the record since 2008. The wheel rotates on a pair of custom-designed spherical roller bearings, each weighing approximately 19,400 lb(8,800kg). Each bearing has an outer diameter of 7.55 feet (2.30 m), an inner bore of 5.25 feet (1.60 m), and a width of 2.07 feet (0.63 m).
4. Shark Reef (Aquarium)
Year: 2000
Typology: aquarium
The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay is a public aquarium located at and owned by the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its main tank is 1,300,000 US gallons (4,900,000 l), one of the largest in North America. The facility is 95,000 sq ft (8,800m2), and displays numerous different species of sharks, rays, fish, reptiles, and marine invertebrates. It also features a shark tunnel. The reef was developed in consultation with the Vancouver Aquarium.
5. The Mob Museum
Year: 2012
Typology: museum
The Mob Museum, officially the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement is a history museum located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The Mob museum is dedicated to featuring the artifacts, stories, and history of organized crime in the United States, as well as the actions and initiatives by law enforcement to prevent such crimes. The museum is housed in the former Las Vegas Post Office and Courthouse, which was built in 1933 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum is located on Stewart Avenue, two blocks north of Fremont Street, the main artery of the downtown casino district.
6. The Neon Museum
Year: 1996
Typology: Museum
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.62 acres. The museum features a restored lobby shell from the defunct La Concha Motel as its visitor center, which officially opened on October 27, 2012. The signs are considered by Las Vegas locals, business owners and government organizations to be not only artistically, but also historically, significant to the culture of the city. Each of the restored signs in the collection holds a story about who created it and why it is important.
7. Bellagio Conservatory And Botanical Garden
Year: 1996
Typology: botanical garden
In addition to the Fountains at the front of the resort, the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden is one of the best free attractions in Las Vegas. Featuring hundreds of natural trees, shrubs, and flowers along with architectural elements in a creative and unique layout that is visually stunning. The three-story glass-domed conservatory features beautiful arrangements according to a theme that changes periodically throughout the year. The seasonal themes include Holiday, Chinese New Year, Spring Celebration, Summer Garden Party, and Harvest. A great amount of planning, time, detail, and effort is put into the designs, which requires a team of 140 people from the resort’s an engineering and horticulture departments to assemble using cranes and underground tunnels. Approximately 40 trees, 1,500 shrubs, and 10,000 blooming plants are featured in each exhibit. They are often exported from distant countries or states to their new home at the conservatory, where they are set among specially designed spotlights, gazebos, bridges, ponds, sculptures, and fountains. Only three of the trees in the conservatory are permanent fixtures, including a 110-foot-tall Banyan tree from Palm Beach, Florida, that is over a hundred years old.
8. Las Vegas Strip
Year: 1930
Typology: skyline strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip is approximately 4.2 miles (6.8 km) in length, located immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester. However, the Strip is often referred to as being in Las Vegas. Many of the largest hotel, casino, and resort properties in the world are located on the Strip. The boulevard cityscape is highlighted by its use of contemporary architecture, lights, and a wide variety of attractions. Its hotels, casinos, restaurants, residential high-rises, entertainment offerings, and skyline have established the Strip as one of the most popular and iconic tourist destinations in the world and is one of the driving forces for Las Vegas' economy.
9. Pinball Hall Of Fame:
Year: 2009
Typology: museum
The Pinball Hall of Fame is a museum for pinball machines that opened in Paradise, Nevada in November 2009. It is located at 1610 E Tropicana Ave. The museum is a project of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club and it features pinball machines from all eras, including some very rare machines such as Williams; Black Gold, Bally Pinball Circus and Recreations Franco’s Impact. It features over 200 different pinball games, including some classic video arcade games and other novelty machines of the past and present.
10. Cosmopolitan Pool Las Vegas
Year: not known
Typology: pool
Overlooking the heart of the Strip, The Cosmopolitan’s district of three distinct Las Vegas pool experiences let you choose the scene that best suits your mood. With unrivaled service, premium amenities, pristine pools, manicured grounds and spectacular views, you’ll take away more than just a tan.
11. Bellagio
Year: 1998
Typology: fountain designs
Bellagio is a resort, luxury hotel, and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts International and was built on the site of the demolished Dunes hotel and casino. Inspired by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy, Bellagio is famed for its elegance. One of its most notable features is an 8-acre (3.2 ha) lake between the building and the Strip, which houses the Fountains of Bellagio, a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music.
12. Aria Resort And Casino
Year: 2009
Typology: resort and casino
Aria Resort and Casino is a luxury resort and casino, part of the CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Aria consists of two curved glass and steel high rise towers adjoined at the center. It opened on December 16, 2009, as a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Infinity World Development. At 4,000,000 sq ft (370,000 m2) and 600 ft (180 m) in height, it is the largest and tallest structure at CityCenter.
13. Live Work Towers Las Vegas
Year: 2014
Typology: mixed-use residential building
The idea of mixed-use residential buildings is rapidly gaining popularity in urban America. The concept of being able to work within walking distance of where you live is both convenient and economical. Matthew Rosenberg, design director of M-Rad Studio, recognizes this and has proposed a dramatic live/work design for the Downtown Project of Las Vegas, Nevada. Titled Inter-Act Residence, the building (or, potentially, series of buildings) would incorporate modular offices and apartments, strategically arranged for interaction between residents.
14. Lou Ruvo Centre For Brain Health
Year: 2010
Typology: hospital
Architect: Frank Gehry
The ceremonial groundbreaking of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health occurred on February 9, 2007. Dignitaries who attended the groundbreaking ceremonies for the $70 a million projects included founder Larry Ruvo, Frank Gehry, U.S. Senator Harry Reid, and John Ensign; U.S. Representative Shelley Berkley, Jon Porter, and Dean Heller, Gov. Jim Gibbons, Mayor Oscar Goodman, former Gov. Kenny Guinn, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Spacey, and John Cusack. The Center operates as an outpatient treatment and research the facility in downtown Las Vegas on land deeded to Keep Memory Alive, the fundraising arm of LRCBH, by the City of Las Vegas as part of its 61 acres (25 ha) Symphony Park. The Center is approximately 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) and includes 13 examination rooms, offices for health care practitioners and researchers, Museum of the Mind, and a community auditorium. The Center will also serve as the headquarters for Keep Memory Alive, the Las Vegas Alzheimer Association and the Las Vegas Parkinson Disease Association.
15. Guardian Angel Cathedral Las Vegas
Year: 1963
Typology: cathedral
Architect: Paul. R. Williams
Williams used an A-frame design for the church structure. A four-sided spire capped with a cross is located to the front left of the cathedral. At its base is a statue of the Holy Family. There is a large mosaic over the main entrance of the cathedral by Los Angeles artist Edith Piczek. It represents the Guardian Angel with three figures: Penance, Prayer and Peace. She also created the mural on the rear chancel wall, which is titled The Final Beginning. The stained-glass windows, which depict the Stations of the Cross, are by her sister Isabel Piczek. They are located in 12 triangular niches that bisect the A-frame. A large crucifix is suspended from the ceiling above the altar and in front of the chancel mural. There is seating for 1,100 people in the cathedral. The pews on the main floor are divided into four sections across the nave and a deep gallery above the main entrance. The Blessed The sacrament is housed in a chapel to the right of the altar, and the Lady chapel is located on the opposite side of the cathedral.
