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Francis Kéré teams with LACMA to design the new Las Vegas Museum of Art

2024-09-06T11:00:00-04:00

Las Vegas and Francis Kéré may seem like an odd pairing, but that’s exactly where the rammed earth pioneer and 2022 Pritzker winner plans to deliver his first permanent American public building for the new Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) in direct partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Expectations are for the plan to begin construction in February 2027. The design yields a total of 90,000 square feet on a lot currently used for surface parking in Symphony Park near downtown Las Vegas. A Rendering appears to show the concept nodding to the desert vernacular in the mold of his other works and in line with the expected extreme heat challenges that will grip the city in coming years.

KTNV quoted a source as saying its design will quote Paul Revere Williams' nearby 1963 Guardian Angel Cathedral as one of its many influences and reported that the plan is to have the museum open by the end of 2028. Kéré says: "It is a tremendous honor, and a highlight of my profes...

Plans for new LACMA-backed Las Vegas art museum emerge

2023-12-27T08:00:00-05:00

Around three years after the Nevada Museum of Art (NMA) in Reno suspended its plans to move forward with a Las Vegas branch of the museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the foundation of the philanthropist Elaine P. Wynn have announced an unprecedented partnership to launch a new museum in the city called the Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA).

As The Art Newspaper reported, plans for a new Las Vegas Museum of Art have the approximately 60,000-90,000-square-foot cultural facility commence in 2028 and cost around $150 million to construct in five-acre Symphony Park. LACMA is supporting the effort, which will (hopefully) fill the void left after the first Las Vegas Museum of Art closed its doors in 2009 over a lack of funding. Backers now have until 2025 to submit a design proposal and project timeline to the city.

“Our efforts to work with local and regional museums to share our collections and programs to larger and more diverse audiences are a priority in this joint effort,” a spokesperson for LACMA told TAN. “Las Vegas is currently the only city among the 30 largest in the U.S. to lack a standalone art museum [that is not a member of American Alliance of Museums]. It promises to be a valuable addition to the city and the cultural landscape of the region.”

No architects have been named to the project at this time.

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Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh made a $350 million bet on downtown Las Vegas – five years later, the results are murky

2016-08-12T18:24:00-04:00

Critics point to a less-than-robust tech scene, layoffs and shuttered businesses as major stumbling blocks, while others applaud the community's transformation. [...] "The other thing that we would have done differently, knowing what we know now, is really made our goals much more explicit," Hsieh said. For example, he would have put "collisions" — serendipitous encounters between individuals who can drive innovation — ahead of co-learning, connectedness and even return on investment.

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