City Center’s Aria Pool Deck, Restaurant & Bar - GRAFT

City Center is a mixed use, 18 million square feet, development by MGM Mirage that features buildings by several world renowned architects. The unique seventy-six acre urban resort is located in the heart of the famed Las Vegas Strip and is a collection of luxury hotels, condominiums, casinos, shopping facilities, and entertainment venues. To date, it is the largest privately financed development in the history of the United States and is also the largest LEED Certified project in the world.

City Center consists of a collection of spectacular hotels and residences, casinos, spas and retail areas, including Aria, Vdara, the Mandarin Oriental, Veer Towers and Crystals. Located at the base of Aria, the main resort and casino, the pool deck is a lush tropical lagoon. It is an intimate sanctuary of cabanas around a luscious pool area in the midst of the larger vision of the City Center. The structures constitute a fusion of the stunning beauty and richness of the tropics and the simplicity of our contemporary culture. The architecture consists of a series of overlapping contours that were envisioned as a metaphor of fluidity and as a means to establish a spatial hierarchy for the distinct lounge areas. The project serves 1,500 guests and consists of 52 separate cabanas,2 bars, a restaurant, retail and a European pool lounge.

The individual buildings, designed as a family of structures set within a landscape, offer unique variation while unifying the overall composition of the pool deck and resort. This is achieved through the use of a similar material palate and through the formal relationships of those materials that are a play between monolithic forms and panelized sections that create unique figure group relationships.

The material palette was selected to reflect the architecture and luxury of the tropics in a combination with the simplicity of contemporary minimalism. The used materials, including massaranduba wood and various textiles, were chosen not only for their haptic and optical sensations, but also in accordance with our commitment to the environment.

Breeze Café
The hungry patron can enter the Breeze Café and Pool Bar, located at the eastern end of the lagoon. The structure is inspired by the cooling experience of Mangrove forests. Large canopies provide shade, while simultaneously allowing free air flow through the openings between the roof structures, creating an enticing play of light and shadows in the space. The interplay of warm, comforting wood and sculptural white plaster surfaces enhances the experience of an opulent refuge from the sizzling sun.

Pool Bar
The pool bar is envisioned as a protected cliff dwelling in the center of the area. The large overhang provides cooling shade and protection from the sun. The monolithic white structure is opening itself to invite the guests, revealing a welcoming wood interior with an abstracted image of a canyon behind the bar.

Liquid Pool Lounge
The third architectural component is a secluded cove at the western and of the pool area. It is an adult-only escape to another world of relaxation. A refuge was created that continues the material palette of the other zones, but uses a different architectural and spatial language, in order to set it apart from the adjacent areas. The Liquid Pool Lounge is operated by the Light Group. The back bar features original artwork by Los Angeles artist Camron Slocum.

Visit the GRAFT website – here.

Photos by Ricardo Ridecos

The Waterhouse - Neri & Hu Design and Research Office

Located on the banks of the Huangpu River in the historic dockyard district and in the vicinity of the 2010 World Expo site, The Waterhouse at South Bund is rooted in an inversion of internal & external spaces. Shanghai-based Neri + Hu Design and Research Office (NHDRO) have transformed a non-descript 1930s riverside building into a modern expression of Chinese aesthetics. This architectural intervention enhances the building’s industrial presence, while outfitting the interior with the ammenities of a luxury hotel.

The project is comprised of two buildings: a hotel and an event warehouse. For the hotel, Neri & Hu created 19 rooms, with a rooftop bar and a restaurant. Interestingly, the private and public spaces are switched – ”Guests grazing through the buildings public areas are granted vantage points into private space, while guests taking respite in what would conventionally be secluded space are able to observe the public realm while doing so.” The architects felt this concept would result in a more exciting hotel experience, and provide a strong identifying mark for the hotel.

As the name suggests, the event space was a former warehouse. This rennovation maintains the warehouse’s shell, tying in the building’s industrial roots while staying true to the neighborhood’s historic past. The 8,000 square-foot (743 sqm) multi-function warehouse boasts a double-storey ceiling and a flexible, easy-to-convert layout, making it perfect for a wide range of events, including product launches, fashion shows, cexhibitions, and weddings.

Take From ArchDaily

Don't Let Your Grandma Design

Some of you may know that one of my biggest pet-peeves is design work that looks like your "Grandma" (sorry Grandma!) unleashed the cut & paste tool on an innocent piece of white paper. In the end, Grandma's "Masterpiece" (aka - Event Flier/Poster/Invitation) is sent out into the world to conquer and destroy the masses. And that is exactly what it does. With great anticipation Grandma awaits the big day only to find out that everyone had become ill from design poisoning and were not able to attend her event.

Wake up people! If you want people to take what your are doing seriously, then act professional. Please, do us all a favor and stop flogging humanity with your clip-art library and your ridiculous, thoughtless and unimaginative layouts. At least hand it over to your 6-year-old, I am sure they know Photoshop, Illustrator, In-Design, etc...

Here is what I am talking about.... My sister-in-law wanted me to spruce up an event poster for the Mapleton City Summer Concerts in the Park. Before you are too harsh on her, I have to say that she is not the one that designed the original poster. I am just glad that we got a hold of it before it hit the public for general consumption, otherwise I am sure the fliers would have been discarded or used to line bird cages and the like.

Here is what I came up with. Which Summer Concert Series would you rather go to?

New Poster

Original Poster

Moving Forward

What a crazy weekend! To keep a long story very short - I now have a new place of employment. It has been a long time in the making but finally it has happened. The firm is Method Studio, located in downtown Salt Lake City. They do some really great work! Here is a little sampling of their projects.

Design Arts Utah 2010 Brochure

Below is a sampling of the 2010 Design Arts Utah Exhibition. I will post images of the exhibition later, with photos of the model - looks fantastic!