Casinos are establishments that provide complete entertainment for their visitors, complete with gaming rooms, tables, slot machines, and stages for shows. These business establishments have meticulous planning for more effective operations and customer satisfaction. Many successful casinos managed to increase their customers by having the proper marketing and services, which begins with professional designs to entice more people.
Casino architects can produce proper planning that gives refinement and luxury to attract more casino players to stay and play longer. World-class casinos make sure they go all-out in terms of architectural design and concept to give the best impressions to their customers. Read on and learn about famous casino architects and their successful projects.
World-Class Casinos and their Architects
Architects are professional designers of structures that cater to their client’s needs and expectations. They provide the concept and the standards of designing a structure that will have aesthetics and function, especially for business establishments such as casinos. Casinos must attract more customers to increase their revenue and continue their services.
One of the main factors people look for in a casino is its aesthetics. It would be interesting to see the details of a casino's exterior and interior design, making casino goers stay longer and return for more gaming experiences. Here are a few of the famous casino architects with the projects they completed.
1. Jay Sarno
Architect Jay Sarno is the designer and founder of the Caesars Palace in the 1960s. He was an American developer who owned the Atlanta Cabana in Atlanta, Georgia, and many motels in Texas and California. Sarno came from St. Joseph, Missouri, and his parents were Jewish and Polish immigrants.
Architect Sarno finished a degree in business from the University of Missouri, where he met his business partner, Stanley Mallin. Sarno joined the United States Army during World War II and was assigned to the Pacific theatre with Mallin.
Sarno is one of the most famous casino architects in the world who became a tile contractor in Miami, Florida, with his business partner, Stanley Mallin. They eventually ventured into subsidized housing projects in Atlanta, Georgia. Sarno was considered the father of modern Las Vegas and the genius behind Circus Circus and Caesars Palace. The Las Vegas Strip also started to have a collection of small-time casinos.
Architect Jay Sarno found his inspiration for the Caesars Palace when he went to Rome’s St. Peter’s Square. He envisioned building the most elaborate and grandest hotel-casino in the world with the concept of ancient Rome.
Caesars Palace became the template for most casino designs on the Las Vegas Strip. Sarno also developed the Circus Circus, which featured circus shows under a tent. As one of the most famous casino architects in the world, he would also dress up as a ringmaster and ensure that the families and children would have a grand time watching the shows. He eventually leased the property to Bill Bennett and Bill Pennington in 1983.
2. Paul Steelman
Paul Steelman is among the most famous casino architects and contributed the Resorts World Las Vegas to the gaming industry. He is a world-class architect, and most projects are in the casino industry. Steelman is a native of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and became a visionary designer of structures that provide hospitality, entertainment, and gaming services.
Many famous casino architects have numerous awards, and Steelman was among those who received the HOSPY Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 and the SARNO Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. He was also featured in several visual media and publications, such as the Oceans 13 DVD and Forbes Magazine’s article “Designing for Dough.” Paul’s main office, Steelman Partners, is in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It is an international architectural firm specializing in various disciplinary spaces of entertainment, graphic, lighting, and interior designs. His company also has branches in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Zhuhai and Macau, China; Amsterdam, Holland; and Manila, Philippines.
The Resorts World Las Vegas is a Chinese-themed structure that includes a hotel with 3,400 rooms and a 175,000-square feet casino spreading around several floors. It has seven hotel towers in a complex that targets middle-income Asian residents because of its Asian-themed design, which made Steelman one of the most famous casino architects in the industry.
3. Veldon Simpson
Veldon Simpson belongs to the most famous casino architects in the world, specifically for planning and designing the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. He formed a corporation in 1976, the Veldon Simpson-Architect, Inc., of which he is the president. Simpson also has several projects in the gaming and hospitality industry, such as the MGM and the Excalibur Hotel and Casino.
The Luxor Las Vegas is one of the most popular gaming establishments because of its unique architectural design. It features a black pyramid hotel and casino complex that opened in October 1993, and it became one of the best examples of postmodernist architecture of the 1990s.
His design for the Luxor made him one of the most famous casino architects in history, as he incorporated the Ancient Egyptian theme to the hotel resort, highlighted by the replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza that stands 100 feet outside the pyramid.
The Luxor Las Vegas has 30 stories and 11,000 square meters of floor space. It also has the world’s most enormous atrium that can hold at least 87 table games and 2,000 units of slot machines. Erected by Circus Circus Enterprises, the Luxor took only 18 months to complete its construction with a $375 million project cost. The project used reinforced concrete and steel skeleton that helped in building the pyramid.
As one of the world's most famous casino architects, Veldon Simpson ensured that Luxor Las Vegas would have a unique design and features that people will remember. Its pyramid showcases the Luxor Sky Beam that can produce 42.3 billion candelas, the world’s strongest beam of light.
The Sky Beam is computer-designed and built with curved mirrors capable of collecting light using its 39 xenon lamps. It can produce an intense beam that passes through a narrow beam that points into the sky, where people can see a few hundred miles away. The Luxor Las Vegas is the 6th largest hotel in the world and the 3rd largest in Las Vegas. It is also the fourth tallest pyramid in the world and 3rd in the United States.
4. Charles Garnier
Jean Louis Charles Garnier was a French architect specializing in the neo-baroque architecture style, which resulted from the strict classicism of Napoleon III’s style during the Second Empire in the 1850s. He is one of the famous casino architects of that era and won some notable awards for his works, such as the Grand Prix de Rome. Garnier joined the competition for the Acaemie Nationale de Musique, (Opera) in 1861 in Paris. He brought home the fifth prize in the first stage of a two-part competition.
The famous Monte Carlo casino was one of Garnier’s achievements in his career. This building has non-standard features, where it features both a theatre and a playhouse that made Garnier one of the most famous casino architects in the world. The Monte Carlo casino was initially planned to help the financial state of the royal family and the whole state. It was in 1863 when they completed the structure. However, the country was experiencing financial difficulties and could not boost tourism and help its economy. Monaco’s neighbouring states weren’t able to visit them because of their poor road conditions.
Unfortunately, the casino wasn’t able to attract any customers, and it operated only for a short time, which led to its closure. In the late 70s, there were several attempts to expand the structure with a few entertainment areas to help increase its popularity. The project was able to attract a lot of tourists, and it was a successful venture.
5. Daryl Jackson
Daryl Jackson had a concept of Yarra River’s riverside as a casino’s main attraction. His vision eventually became Melbourne’s Crown Casino, which features glass and lights that provide an excellent display for those who would see it. As one of the most famous casino architects, Jackson highlighted elegant lines that represent both the lights and the river. The structure has over 200,000 square feet of floor area that contains gaming spaces. It also has 2,000 elegant hotel rooms, shops, and restaurants inside the casino.
Daryl Jackson took home several honours for sharing his modernistic designs for the Crown Casino and many other structures in Melbourne, Australia.
6. Jean Faugeron
Jean Faugeron contributed the Casino de Montreal to the gaming industry. As one of the most famous casino architects in the world, Faugeron designed the Casino de Montreal, comparable to the Sydney Opera House. People see this work of art as a significant landmark in Montreal because of its stunning design.
The Casino de Montreal was originally the French pavilion at the 1967 International Exhibition. It became a casino in 1993 and featured many game rooms, bars, and a cabaret concert hall for large audiences. The casino had an expansion in 1996 and added more than 120 table games and 3,200 slot machines.
Celebrating Famous Casino Architects
Because of these famous casino architects, many casinos have awe-inspiring external and interior designs. A casino’s design is its best feature to attract customers, followed by rendering their good services. Architecture designs in casinos help the business grow and also serve as an artistic inspiration to many people. These famous casino architects gave their best concepts to build structures that positively impact people who use and see them.
