Recent project Norman Foster,Daniel Libeskind on Vegas (U.S.A)
2008-03-01
Foster and Libeskind bet on Las Vegas...
29 February 2008
Foster & Partners, Daniel Libeskind and Helmut Jahn of Chicago-based Murphy Jahn Architects have designed three neighbouring buildings as part of an $8 billion development in Las Vegas, touted as the largest privately financed project ever constructed in North America.
Foster’s has designed a Harmon hotel and residential building, with 400 hotel rooms, 200 apartments and a pool deck that overlooks the Las Vegas strip from 30m above the ground, while Libeskind’s scheme, the Crystals, is a 46,000sq m retail and entertainment quarter.
Meanwhile, Murphy Jahn has designed Veer Towers, a pair of glass-clad skyscrapers reaching 37 storeys each leaning five degrees in different directions and providing 330 residential units.
Other architects involved in the scheme include Raphael Viñoly, who has designed the Vdara Condo Hotel, a 57-storey tower with 1,500 residential units;
KPF which has designed the 400-bed Mandarin Oriental Hotel; and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, which has designed a 61-storey tower.
The 31ha masterplan was drawn up by New York-based Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects.
...while super-casino loses out
Manchester’s super-casino plans have been ditched following a seven-month government review. A report by the DCLG concluded that the regeneration benefits of super-casinos like the Manchester proposal — originally designed by Ian Simpson — could be delivered through alternative projects.
But 16 smaller casinos have been given the green light, and in an attempt to head off potential legal action from Manchester City Council, communities secretary Hazel Blears announced the creation of a new ministerial group to help Manchester bid for projects, an extra £10 million for east Manchester development Sportcity, and an extension of the New East Manchester Urban Regeneration Company to 2014.
Manchester’s arch-rival for the casino, Blackpool, was also given a boost, with the announcement of nearly £300 million to support future development initiatives.
Gensler principal Ian Mulcahey, whose firm worked on Blackpool’s super-casino bid, claimed taxpayers had lost out. “The government originally proposed multiple super-casinos and all it’s ended up doing is getting the public sector to waste a lot of money trying to get the licences,” he said.