The giant Gensler-designed CityCenter Hotel in Las Vegas will dwarf all LEED structures to-date and set a new Green Design benchmark for one of the world's most wasteful industries. It might be possible to win big in Vegas after all.| Las Vegas Sun
this highlights the irony of the lEED program: it makes building 7 billion dollar casino feel mildly sustainable when in fact there is nothign sustainable abbout a 7billion dollar casino. the best that LEED does is make doing wrong things feel a little better.
bollocks. marlin, do you really think that building a 7 billion casino in the middle of the desert is okay? it does seem to me that the system is working. that project cannot be sustinabale. not possible. who fucking cares if it has recycled carpet. LEED is an alibi for some insane logics.
i agree with you, switters, but you're arguing the ethics of ostentatious casinos, not the ethics of thier construction. They will get built, so how to build them goes in one of two directions: clubbed baby seal skin carpet with spotted owl eyeball trim and old-growth forest subflooring, or the other direction, which is that as an architect, do what you can with what you've got.
i hear you, but at some point doesn't an architect, or something as overtly 'sustainable' as LEED, have to challenge this mindless assumption that 'it will get built so it might as well be_______". if not we are at best complicit with these types of practices. i.e. why is it not okay to say NO, you can't do that? the fact that this 7 billion dollar casino and all its embodied energy will be torn down in 20 years undoes any 'sustianable' features in the project. it is insane.
Personally, I don't see what's wrong about this. If they want to build it and tear it down in 20 years, fine. If they've built it w/ sustainability in mind, this shouldn't be an issue, except cost. But this is following today's frame-of-mind. IMHO, with the new sustainable features integrated into today's buildings, I think we'll find in 20-30 years more buildings will be sticking around instead of being replaced.
Also about the recycled carpet. While this may seem like a small thing to you, think of how many SF of carpet will be used. Then multiply that times all the chemicals and materials saved by not manufacturing new carpet. This adds up immensely on large projects.
The article focuses on the finishes, but this project encompasses much more. "From garden roofs to the use of reclaimed water, to the creation of a central, on-site power plant, Project CityCenter is being designed to promote the most responsible use of water, electricity and natural gas."
If you know anything about Vegas it's that their water/waste system is horrible, this project is aimed at helping remedy the solution, not contribute to it.
@switters you should look into it a bit more. I think there's more to this project than you think.
I personally think this project is a huge leap forward in getting sustainability into the public eye and the beginning of incorporating sustainable principles in large projects.
vegas is not a sustainable city. one day soon, lake mead will fill up with silt or hoover dam will collapse and that will be the end of vegas, phoenix, los angeles, and san diego.
With out the water that irrigates the millions of lawns and evaporates from the fountains, and plunges through the electrical turbines, there would be no neon city in the desert. in fact, a study predicts that as soon as 2010 there won't be enough water to continue growing with the current per capita guzzling and squandering of the precious liquid.
So is citycenter sustainable???? no, is it an improvement over the status quo? maybe.
Jan 24, 07 1:08 pm ·
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this highlights the irony of the lEED program: it makes building 7 billion dollar casino feel mildly sustainable when in fact there is nothign sustainable abbout a 7billion dollar casino. the best that LEED does is make doing wrong things feel a little better.
Agreed, switters, but the end logic of that rationale would be a building receiving the highest LEED rating by not being built at all.
Gotta start somewhere, even if it is as small a gesture as using wheatboard instead of plywood.
bollocks. marlin, do you really think that building a 7 billion casino in the middle of the desert is okay? it does seem to me that the system is working. that project cannot be sustinabale. not possible. who fucking cares if it has recycled carpet. LEED is an alibi for some insane logics.
i agree with you, switters, but you're arguing the ethics of ostentatious casinos, not the ethics of thier construction. They will get built, so how to build them goes in one of two directions: clubbed baby seal skin carpet with spotted owl eyeball trim and old-growth forest subflooring, or the other direction, which is that as an architect, do what you can with what you've got.
i hear you, but at some point doesn't an architect, or something as overtly 'sustainable' as LEED, have to challenge this mindless assumption that 'it will get built so it might as well be_______". if not we are at best complicit with these types of practices. i.e. why is it not okay to say NO, you can't do that? the fact that this 7 billion dollar casino and all its embodied energy will be torn down in 20 years undoes any 'sustianable' features in the project. it is insane.
a wise friend once said:
"embrace the inevitable"
who said that neville chamberlain? or vidkun quisling?
Personally, I don't see what's wrong about this. If they want to build it and tear it down in 20 years, fine. If they've built it w/ sustainability in mind, this shouldn't be an issue, except cost. But this is following today's frame-of-mind. IMHO, with the new sustainable features integrated into today's buildings, I think we'll find in 20-30 years more buildings will be sticking around instead of being replaced.
Also about the recycled carpet. While this may seem like a small thing to you, think of how many SF of carpet will be used. Then multiply that times all the chemicals and materials saved by not manufacturing new carpet. This adds up immensely on large projects.
The article focuses on the finishes, but this project encompasses much more. "From garden roofs to the use of reclaimed water, to the creation of a central, on-site power plant, Project CityCenter is being designed to promote the most responsible use of water, electricity and natural gas."
If you know anything about Vegas it's that their water/waste system is horrible, this project is aimed at helping remedy the solution, not contribute to it.
@switters you should look into it a bit more. I think there's more to this project than you think.
I personally think this project is a huge leap forward in getting sustainability into the public eye and the beginning of incorporating sustainable principles in large projects.
you're drinking too much of the kool-aid.
vegas is not a sustainable city. one day soon, lake mead will fill up with silt or hoover dam will collapse and that will be the end of vegas, phoenix, los angeles, and san diego.
With out the water that irrigates the millions of lawns and evaporates from the fountains, and plunges through the electrical turbines, there would be no neon city in the desert. in fact, a study predicts that as soon as 2010 there won't be enough water to continue growing with the current per capita guzzling and squandering of the precious liquid.
So is citycenter sustainable???? no, is it an improvement over the status quo? maybe.
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