occinteriordesign

Aria Resort and Casino 

Las Vegas, NV

By Julie Sarantapoulas

                The Aria Resort and Casino is one of the newest hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, opening in 2009 as part of CityCenter.  Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, it spans 6.1 million square feet and reaches 600 feet tall.  CityCenter was carefully designed with sustainability in mind and Aria is the largest hotel to ever accomplish a Leed Gold rating.   

                                                                     

                I have had the opportunity to stay at the Aria on two occasions and experience its cutting edge design firsthand.  As a guest, your first view is the expansive lobby.  This is when you realize that this hotel is unlike most other Las Vegas hotels.  The ceiling is made up of wood beams and glass windows, allowing sunlight to flood the room and minimizing the need for artificial light during the day.  Real trees line the lobby, which add to the naturalistic design aesthetic.  Air vents are cleverly hidden under benches so you don’t have to see them on the wall or floor.  This also reduces energy consumption because cool air toward the ceiling is wasted.  The guest rooms are just as airy.  The entire façade is glass, which lets a lot of light into the room.  When you first open your door, the window shade automatically opens by moving along an electronic track.  My favorite feature is that you can set the shade as an alarm clock and wake up to the sun. 

                                                                      

                This is the entrance to the Aria Café Vettro.  The designers have done an impressive job of making ordinary, sustainable materials look modern and trendy.  Glass is considered renewable because it is usually made with recycled material.  Rocks are used in the display and if you look closely, you can see that the stepped wall behind the glass cylinders also contain rocks.  Behind the frosted glass, they take on a polished look.  The rocks were actually taken from the remnants of the Boardwalk Hotel, the previous occupant of this site.    

                                                                       

                This is from the Crystals shopping center which is attached to the hotel.  Upstairs on the way to the tram station, there are lights in several different colors illuminating the area.  The play of colored light against the geometric shapes of the architecture is stunning.  As you walk through the area, the lights and angles continually change, creating a different view in every direction. 

                                                                       

                Here is a view of the Crystals mall from the top.  It is an upscale shopping center with designer stores such as Cartier and Versace.   The building is just as stylish as the brands within it.  The floor is an intricate pattern with inlaid wood.  All of the wood used in the building is FSC certified, which ensures that forests are not depleted as a result of construction.  When you look closer, you can see small stones and quartz embedded in the floor and staircase.  Each storefront is unique and adds to the overall design of the building.  There are stores with colored glass, metal, backlit displays, and decorative lighting.  This all adds up to make sightseeing just as fun as the shopping itself. 

                                                                

                This last picture displays some of the original and quirky design that can be found throughout Aria.  This is called “Glacia” and the pillars are made of ice.  According to a sign accompanying the fountain, the core of each pillar is kept at negative 5 degrees Fahrenheit.  The columns re-freeze after about 36 hours and then water jets sculpt the pillars. 

                A few more words about the sustainable features involved in the Aria.  It is the first hotel on the strip to generate some of its own electricity through natural gas.  About 40 percent of water in the building is conserved, which equates to about 50 million gallons per year.  The showers are pressurized, which allow them to use less water without a noticeable difference.  It has its own stretch limos which run on clean-burning compressed natural gas.  The list goes on and on.  More information can be found at the following sites:

               

http://pcparch.com/project/aria-resort-and-casino/detail

http://aria.hyatt.com/en/hotel/news-and-events/awards/leed-gold-certification.html

                The Aria Hotel and Casino is an inspiration to designers who want to build for the future.  The environment was considered in every aspect of its construction all while maintaining the highest level of comfort and aesthetics.