Introduction:
From what is a global perceptive association, Las Vegas in itself is a requisite experience. It is well known for its lavish existence and functionality, from the time the Las Vegas Strip , (also known as the Downtown) materialized. It evokes a 'larger than life itself' sentiment to the people who visit the city, most commonly to fulfill this expectance.
Bright Panorama at the LV Strip
The city is an epitome of extravagance, and its development vision can also be traced back to this experiential quality.
'Las Vegas is to the Strip what Rome is to the Piazza'
Historical Overview
Las Vegas is located in the US state of Nevada. It was originally a desert town prior to its flamboyant existence.
Despite the arid landscape that exhibits its contrary, Las Vegas commenced its development due to its ability to provide water for steam engines. Las Vegas means 'The Meadows' in Spanish. Historical literature explains that the city was a fertile land occupied by the Native Paiute Indians.
An Artist Rendition of the Old Mormon Fort
The early settlers recruited the Mormon missionaries to Vegas as they were masters of irrigation farming. However, by then the area had transformed to desert soil which made the activity difficult and this was eventually halted.
As the settlers arrived one after the other, the 'San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad'
put Las Vegas on the map. The city was a division point in the railroad line and was located at an ideal distance to change crews and refuel.
Las Vegas , 1905
This gave rise to a company town. The railroad-owned Las Vegas Land and Water Company managed water distribution here. However, with the easy accessibility of ground water, innumerable private wells sprang across the valley, some of which “spewed forth thousands of gallons of water per minute, which flowed into ponds or gullies, with no use whatever being made of the water”.
Boulder Dam Construction (now Hoover Dam), 1931
Hoover Dam
The dam was built for three main reasons: flood control, to provide irrigation water and to produce hydroelectric power. The magnificent project captivated the nation in the midst of the Great Depression. The town of Boulder City was built to house the dam workers. This period also saw the influx of new settlers into the city. The project aided Las Vegas' development.
The Developing Image of Vegas:
The ethnic community of Italian Americans Italian Americans were among the pioneers who built Las Vegas. The community, particularly those with expertise in gaming migrated to the city early 1990s. They designed, built, and managed hotels and casinos, entertained millions of visitors in the showrooms and lounges, and ran leading restaurants.
Fremont Street, Las Vegas 1930s. The train depot is marked at the end of the street.
They exerted a positive influence on the city's development. Even the wiseguys captured the attention of the press, contributed to the emergence of Las Vegas as a resort city in the Sunbelt. Legalization of Gambling in Nevada in 1931, sprung out many casinos in the city.
Las Vegas, 1960s
Following World War 2, lavishly decorated hotels, gambling casinos, and big-name entertainment became synonymous with Las Vegas. Its growth was striking-rising from 5,165 people in 1930 to 127,016 in the metropolitan area in 1960, to approximately a million in 1995. Through all these decades, Las Vegas rose to give a flamboyant new culture to the American scene.
Moulding into its One-of-a-Kind Identity in Urban Landscape
Dynamic Form:
Its physical form is in an ever-dynamic transition, mainly based on economic and socio-cultural factors. The functional & utilitarian transition of a hotel (or any other institutional structure) is either through demolition or adaptive re-utilization of the structural space.
L: The Hacienda, replaced by R: Mandalay Bay. This is just one of the many examples of built form transition in the city.
Some of the factors for this transition include:
1. Structural Deterioration
2. Loss of Businesses/Funds
3. Ownership Transfers
4. Inability of the Hotel Vision/ Management to Adapt to the Local Socio-Cultural Ecosystem
5. Changing Interests in Pop Culture
6. New Forms, Expressions, and Variety in Entertainment Industry
7. Changing Architectural Styles & Global, Cultural Themes
8. Changing Urban and Built Form Regulations - This relates to change in height, proportion, and scales of the structures.
9. New Businesses in Trend
Spatial Transition:
Through its history, Las Vegas has and still continues to dynamically evolve. Its current form today, has been a mix of constant experimentation of visual entities and local regulations to create a city that now specifically to visitors from all across its nation and the world.
Documenting Spatial Transition in Las Vegas, conducted by the Research Studio at Yale School of Art and Architecture.
The document captures the transforming skyline along the Las Vegas boulevard. The transitioning process includes:
1. Spatial Expansion & Expression
Mapping Spatial Expansion along the Strip
The period recognized new forms of architecture and experimentation with distinctive styles to create unique identities and themes for each hotel. It also included prominent facades created by the then eminent architects & visual designers.
Variety in visual expression: architectural styles, symbols, signs, textures, patterns, fonts and their composition
2. Competitive Increase in Signs and Symbols
The street fronts bombarded with establishment signs that were each uniquely designed & placed to visually dominate another
3. 'Sense of Place' & Visual Identity of Las Vegas & the Strip
L: The Strip as a place identity, R: 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' Sign
4. Building as an Area Landmark - Location & Function
Golden Nugget, continues to be a spatial landmark
5. Integrating Space for Automobiles in the Downtown Fabric
L: Street front space allocated for parking; R: Street front structure for specific parking use. These lose out on the functional & utilitarian value of land
As the city was accessible to other cities especially through interstate highways, space was allocated for automobile parking. Over time, this became integral to the fabric, and it still is. However, converting these parking specific structures to mixed use, especially along its lower edge will create functional & vibrant streets.
The Las Vegas Strip Experience
The Strip is about 7 km long, flanked by groups of luxury hotel estates. Each of these estate parcels include common symbolic imagery and utilitarian elements. These urban elements exhibit visual & functional variety that contribute immensely to the spatial flow along the stretch. Each of these elements are designed beyond imagination as they feature as major attractions and crowd pullers.
1 Visual Theme:
City Theme & Global Icons: This is prevalent by setting up imitation structures that are well known around the world, such as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, and the Pyramids & Sphinx of Giza
L: A New York themed street front with Statue of Liberty & Empire State Building; R: Paris themed street front includes the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Ballon de Paris
Cultural Theme: These urban elements are based on historical or regional themes. This is inspired by the urban setting, architectural style, or interesting customs. The diverse themes are simply an experential aspect specific to the Strip.
L: An interior Venetian Canal Experience, R: A Venetian themed urban common in front of its main hotel with the same name.
Diverse Architecture Styles: The diverse themes contribute to a variety of architectural styles. These include Modernist, Classical, and Medieval European styles.
L: Classical Architecture, R: Deconstructivism Architecture
This development archetype generates a common ground for individual enterprises to grow and control the general direction of that growth. It allows variety and change along its sides and accommodates a constructive competitive order of individual enterprises.
2 Street Experience:
The casinos and lobbies of Las Vegas are ornamental, monumental and open to the promenading public. Varieties of activities are juxtaposed on the Strip: Themed hotels, public commons such as musical fountains, high viewing decks and squares; fast food restaurants, and commercial stalls.
L: Connecting bridges enable the pedestrians to move from one sightseeing point to another, R: Well lit signs radiating the main street
The system of the highway provides a sequential movement and are sensitive to the functions of exit and entrance, as well as to the image of the Strip as a sequential whole. Driving along the street at night provides a visual experience.
3 Signages
These fonts are large, bright, legible and provide visual directionality. These also in a way promote branding for their hotel business. These are functional as advertisements
L: Caesar's Palace Hotel promoting Celine Dion's concert and a Planet Hollywood iconography; R: Entrance to Mirage Hotel, and an advertisement displaying the Beatles'
4 Brands
The brands decked in the city include well known global names such as Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton, as well as national & regional brands such as Field of Dreams. Beside retail, it includes high end restaurants such as Hell's Kitchen, owned by internationally renowned, celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay.
L: Gucci, Prada & Louis Vuitton stores along the street front, R: Regional brands in themed hotels.
5 Public Transport & Connectivity
Las Vegas Monorail enables transport to and from both ends of the Strip. Its a convenient and a cost effective method of transport system. The new bus transit network proposed by the regional transport authority connects the downtown, outwards towards the suburban development.
Las Vegas Monorail Route
Beyond Las Vegas
Suburban Developments:
Las Vegas, 1946
One of the early maps of the city shows grid demarcation for land development. There are two major factors for the built development - The grid and the highway systems. Despite the development being scattered, these components were instrumental in the alignment of physical fabric of the city. The grid design follows that of a typical American City.
Aerial Morphological View of the City
Many neighbourhoods also include the concept similar to Ebenezer Howard's Garden City. These are closed neighbourhood enclaves with facilities specifically for the residents living inside. Hence, new common social amenities such as public parks and plazas should be prioritized to keep a connective & safe physical fabric
Local Ecosystem:
As the LV Strip is the primary economic driver based on tourism, it gives rise to related local service industries such as hospitality and management. The organization, 'UNITE HERE', where the members' work is based predominantly with the hotel, food, service, laundry, warehouse & casino gaming industries.
Electricity: As the city's main attraction is its brightly lit boulevard, it requires immense power generation. This is also supplied through solar and water.
Las Vegas at Night, NASA Earth Observatory
Water Use: The hotel community in LV have management strategies that encourage the resourceful utilization of water in the rooms. As most of the water is utilized in the hotel rooms, one of strategies for the same include slow water pressure. This also reduces energy consumption. The water is then effectively recycled back into the natural water resources within the city.
A broad traceable map of Water Supply to the City
Learning from Las Vegas
1. Optimization of Local Resources: The LV Strip is one of the primary economic resources to the city which includes tourism, gaming, and conventions. Hence, the local ecosystem contributes greatly to this zone.
2. Sustainable Management of Available Resources: The extravagance is backed by efforts to implement sustainable practices, planning, policies, and built-form regulations.
- Reconstruction Practice: The debris of one of the hotels that included 10,000 pounds of concrete was used by the State Water Authority Dept and the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee to stabilize the 'Las Vegas Wash'.
- Las Vegas Wash, also considered an urban river, channelizes surplus water resourced from the city to Lake Mead.
- Resorts' usable/unused fixtures and hotel furnishings are contributed to local businesses and organizations.
3. Adaptability to changing trends: The urban landscape of LV captures & reflects the changing cultural, intellectual, economic, and social trends.
L: LV street in the 50s, R: LV street currently
Earlier the streets reflected the art culture which included iconography, pop arts, and advertisements as visual communication that attracted customers to their establishment. Now, the streets reflect easy movements from one unique establishment to another and enhanced proportionality of structures. It also considers the varied interests of the visitors in its planning process. It seeks to deliver visitor convenience within the Strip.
4. Inclusivity: Las Vegas includes activities for people of all ages. The pedestrian centric spatial connectedness within the Strip enables people of all abilities to move (and cross) around conveniently from one sightseeing point to another. It also offers varied options of cuisines including ethnic such as Arabic & Indian and fast food chains such as Panda Express.
Attractions & Facilities for people of all ages & abilities
Additional Design Possibilities
1. Health & Economic Recovery of the City: The city's tourism economy was impacted during 2020. Generating a localized secondary economy enables the city to be autonomous and increase self-reliance. An effort has been made by city officials to diversify the economy by attracting health-related, high-tech and other commercial interests. This vision is also rigourously being integrated in the city's Vision Plan for 2050.
From L to R: Project Enchilada, a district development project; a multi-use for events & a center for prime retail and restaurant opportunities.
Some new strategies encourage new development and redevelopment, offers a range of incentive programs to promote growth, and creates connections between small & innovative companies in the city. It is focused to create developments within existing special districts and in the opportunity zones. It optimizes existing local resources and attracts investment to the city.
2. Pedestrian Flow Regulation: The Strip is considered an automobile and a pedestrian-centric experience. However, due to the high volume of visitors specifically to the stretch each year, the development plans should also consider the spatialization of zones to absorb this. The ideation is based on the parameters of pedestrian safety.
A broad overview of visitor influx to Las Vegas. The few years preceding 2020 had an annual influx of over 40 million. Source: Statista
3. Integrated Design Strategies along the Strip: Designing for the continued flow of differing levels enables pedestrians of all abilities to utilize the space at their own pace and convenience.
Proposals for open spaces, accessibility and connectivity include park networks and neighbourhood plans.
The local government has proposed a Special Area Plan, Vision 2045 for the development of Downtown Las Vegas. An overall city vision for 2050, includes strengthening the downtown facilities & connecting it to the wider city limits. The framework is to achieve the desired economic, social, cultural and quality of life future vision for the next 30 years.
4. City Wide Transportation Networks: This reduces the dependency on automobiles and automobile-related infrastructure such as parking garages. Instead, creating mixed-use zones will increase the utility and vibrancy of the arterial streets.
Additionally, creating a shared recreational & utility zone between the downtown and the residential zone can enhance the reachability of the transport networks and walkability within neighborhoods.
Regional Mobility Plan, Las Vegas RTC
The RTC has implemented a regional transportation management plan that increases the dependency on public transport and other modes of clean movement such as walking and cycling. This connects the Downtown to the suburbs and propagates mixed development along transit corridors due to its opportune location.
Complementary Literature & Resources:
Venturi, R., Brown, D. S., & Izenour, S. (1972). Learning from Las Vegas (Revised ed.). The MIT Press | Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England.
Littlejohn, D. (1999). The Real Las Vegas: Life Beyond the Strip. Oxford University Press, New York.
Balboni, A. (2006). Beyond the Mafia: Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas. University of Nevada Press, Reno.
Puzo, M. (1977). Inside Las Vegas (2nd ed.). Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, New York.
City of Las Vegas, Local Government Website: https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/
The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) Website: https://www.rtcsnv.com/
*Photos have been sourced through self, above listed books and multiple related websites online.
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