ShowCase is an on-going feature series on Archinect, presenting exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.
We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.
How do we make a hotel of genuine experiences in Las Vegas, the City of Pastiche? How do we extract the identity of the Mondrian and the Delano Hotels without producing copycat versions? How do we maximize the benefits of a large-scale complex without losing the identity and individual logistics of its parts? How do we address a mass audience while retaining the exclusivity required by a long tradition of ground breaking hotels? And finally, how do we create the “Small and Intimate” when the program is huge and imposing?
↑ Click image to enlarge
Outside image (Click on this and all of the images to get a detailed view)
↑ Click image to enlarge
Outside image
↑ Click image to enlarge
Rain forest lobby
↑ Click image to enlarge
Pool deck
We studied the Mondrian and Delano Hotels with the aim to extract core elements of their identities. Rather than falling for their success, we tried to encircle where they could fail in the event of a Las Vegas relocation.
↑ Click image to enlarge
Model photo
↑ Click image to enlarge
Model photo
↑ Click image to enlarge
Facade detail
↑ Click image to enlarge
Model photo
↑ Click image to enlarge
Model photo
What makes these two hotels different and what connects them? We have reproduced the essence of the hotel experience and thereby attempted to introduce a genuine experience of Las Vegas to Las Vegas.
JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects
Julien De Smedt is the founder and director of JDS Architects based in Copenhagen, with offices in Brussels and Oslo. A designer and architect whose work is known in Europe and abroad, Julien's commitment to the exploration of new architectural models and programs has helped to re-energize the discussion of architecture in Denmark with projects such as the VM Housing Complex, Maritime Youth House and Stavanger Concert Hall. Born in Brussels to French art enthusiast Jacques Léobold and Belgian artist Claude De Smedt, Julien attended schools in Brussels, Paris, and Los Angeles before receiving his diploma from the Bartlett School of Architecture. Before founding JDS Architects, Julien worked with OMA, Rotterdam and co-founded in well known architecture firm PLOT in Copenhagen.
Among other awards and recognitions, Julien received the Henning Larsen Prize in 2003 and an Eckersberg medal in 2005. In 2004 the Stavanger Concert Hall was appointed World’s Best Concert Hall at the Venice Biennale, and the Maritime Youth House won the AR+D award in London and was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe award. In 2007 Julien also won a large international competition for the new Holmenkollen Skijump in Oslo, Norway.
Julien has been a guest professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas and invited to teach at the University of Kentucky in 2009. Among other places, Julien has also lectured at the Sendai Mediatheque in Japan, the Architectural Association of Ireland, the Tate Modern in London, the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, the Pavillon de l'arsenal in Paris, the McGill University in Montreal, Yale University in New Haven, and both SciArc and USC in Los Angeles.
Julien's work has been exhibited in numerous locations around the world, such as Copenhagen, Toronto, Paris, New York City, and Sao Paulo. The first monograph of JDS Architects, entitled PIXL TO XL, was published by Damdi in December 2007 and is currently available.
13 Comments
totally dry...arid actually...
I tought that the charm of the Delano and the Mondrian was that they are very site specific. I can not see that here - Also, those pyramidal towers with Las Vegas temperatures seem a very tough place to visit...
God, what a peece of siteless crap. And in Vegas of all places where you could do anything! Blech!
If you aren't even going to try, why don't you go back to the antiseptic northland from whence you came.
...And Archinect, why don't you stop running features on this BS week after week after week. Enough white buildings! Enough KoolHadidFostSkind rip off retread redux! Enough Columbia early aughts space wasting!
las vegas lead the nation in suicides!
Pass the Haterade...
This is a frighting piece of architecture - and not because it is sharp and pointy, but because it is a relentless collection of one liners: stack them plates, vary the contours, slap on some fashionable skin work, render with the Light of God - voila, L'architecture. No plans, no elevations, no real way to measure and appraise, just the bright and shiny icon. Architecture has regressed to the status of wealthy temples or nothing at all.
At first I liked the interior shots of the physical model...but yeah, this is a huge FAIL on all levels. I'm actually not sure what I hate more: this project or their website.
How much Foam-core do you think they go through in a year?
"No plans, no elevations, no real way to measure and appraise"
Flawed logic...the experience of a building has nothing to do with plan, section or whatever sort of 2d representation. Yes, as an architect u may want to see plan, section, elev and that is elitist. Sure, the renders do not show the organization of the building etc. and that would be the only reasons I would want to see drawings UNLESS it is shown in some other way. But I digress...
This is one sad building.
'and that is elitist"
...HAHAHA.
I have an opening for a Shoulder Pet (the economy hit my parrot and squirrels hard, I just left them on the pavement) - interested?
I jakes, but really - we agree in the end and after, agreeing with me is whats important.
"I hate this and this guy's face(... if he would hire me though - ah when I had work.)"
at least it's getting it's america on by reconstructing a portion of the depleted rainforests.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.