Entry number: UB07047
Project Name: Hard Rock
Location:  Harmon/Swenson Las Vegas NV
Building Type: Hotel & Casino
Completion Date: N/A
Architect:  Klai Juba Architects

Design Team:
Architect: Klai Juba Architects
Civil Engineer: Kimley Horn & Associates
Electrical Engineer: RHR Engineering
Interior Designer: Graham Downes Architecture
Interior Designer: Zeff Design
Landscape Architect: Peridian International
Structural Engineer: Lochsa Engineering

Narrative/Project Description:
Since its conception in the mid 1990's, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino has been a trend setter in style and an evolutionary force in what has come to be the entertainment capital of the world. Begun as a modest 300 room hotel in 1995, it built on its popularity and more than doubled in size in 1999. Today, its ongoing success has driven plans for another significant expansion of the property which will not only provide more space, but reinforce the property's ever-present "cool" factor with its design.

A significant force in the genesis of this expansion was the acquisition of 23.5 acres of land to the west of which the current expansion will occupy 8.5 acres. On a macro-scale, this typifies the growing density of the city surrounding the resort corridor efficiently and elegantly blends high density, modern architecture in the forms of the property's two new room towers and parking garage while at the same time using those forms to expand and define the property's ever popular outdoor amenities.

The new room towers at the Hard Rock "bookend" the existing curved room tower with a complementary, yet contrasting aesthetic. The towers are predominately made of gradients of green and blue glass interrupted with sporratic white horizontal bands which, through its asymmetry and randomness, convey the energy that is so often associated with this property. Moving outwards, this expansion also includes a not-your-ordinary parking garage which complements both the new towers and the existing facade with horizontal louvers and colorful, energetic graphics which dynamically engage the large amount of traffic along Harmon Avenue to the south. As with many large scale projects, wayfinding and ease of entering and exiting the property are paramount and the orientation of this garage with the expansion of hotel rooms and lowrise amenities accomplishes this.

Also part of this expansion will be 200,000 square feet of lowrise construction which will more than double the central casino space in a way that not just expands the current casino, but engages the other new amenities; room towers, dining venues, expanded spa and meeting and concert venue, to form an easily navigated, comprehensive guest experience. As mentioned, the Hard Rock will reconstruct "The Joint" concert venue to be a state of the art, 4,000 seat full service venue which will become a permanent home to its ever-popular concert series.