http://archrecord.construction.com/"Arquitectonica’s Las Vegas gamble is finally paying off big with two new projects on the Strip. The Miami-based firm’s $3 billion, 2,998-room Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino is currently under construction on Las Vegas Boulevard, next to the Bellagio. Developed by New York City-based Ian Bruce Eichner, it calls for two, 600-foot-tall twisting blue glass towers perched atop a four-level, 100-foot-tall podium. These 52-story, prism-shaped high-rises are wrapped in fretted balconies; they will contain hotel and condo-hotel units managed by Grand Hyatt. A glass-clad low-rise structure will contain 265,000 square feet of shops and restaurants topped by a five-acre sandy beach and pool. The 6.9-million-square-foot project is packed into a narrow 8.5-acre site that maximizes its real estate with zero lot lines and underground parking.
“Las Vegas projects, in the past, have been set back from the street with huge porte-cochere entrances. The Cosmopolitan, however, is a truly urban project that reaches toward the sidewalk and engages the energy of the Strip,” says Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA, principal of Arquitectonica. He added that its design is a “purely abstract architectural expression.”
Although Cosmopolitan won’t debut until late 2009, Arquitectonica is already working on another hotel/condo complex called Las Palmas, located on Paradise Road just east of the Strip. The $1.6 billion, 4.5 million square-foot project will consist of four, 55-story aqua-colored glass towers—accented by golden ellipses—containing 1,800 hotel and condo units. The 13-acre complex by Florida-based developer Donahue Peebles has received initial planning approval from Clark County. Its first tower is expected to open in 2010."