Aria Resort and Casino
Las Vegas, NV
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:
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.
6 comments:
The shapes and colors are really bold and work perfectly for the spectacle city of Vegas. In a city of so much waste and consumption, it's nice to see a beautiful hotel that is so large and LEED certified.
The shapes of the building are so interesting. I like how they put trees, waters and rock in the building. It's really nice that they are concern about using sustainable products, one of the place I will come if I'm in Vegas.
I went to aria hotel once! It is a really beautiful place and the interior is amazing. It is a modern style hotel, I wish I can go visit next time!
Aria is amazing. I saw it on reservationcounter.com last year and I decided to book it. Did not regret at all. We had an amazing vacation there.
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