Betsky, Aaron. “Vegas, seriously: Mark Mack brings substance to Las Vegas’s skin-deep
suburbs.” Architecture 88, n.5 (Aug. 1999): 84-89. Includes drawings, renderings and photos.

Fox, Bill. “Superstructures: Three designs that are building the city’s architectural momentum.” Las Vegas Life 3, n.2 (Nov. 1999): 54-57.f

Complete Projects: http://webs.hgs.at/mm/pdf/projects.pdf


ROGER THOMAS RESIDENCE; LAS VEGAS, NV
DATE: 1998-1999
CLIENT: Roger Thomas
PROGRAM: Single Family residence
AREA: 3,700 sf
CREDITS: Mark Mack; Tim Sakamoto
Ed Diamante, Merlin Construction, Las Vegas.

The Interior House is located in a gated development and addresses rigid regulations by withdrawing inward and suppressing the exterior facades. It addresses the outside only as a collective street element. The traditional Islamic courtyard house which organizes itself from the inside is modified for the car dominated society of the 20th century. Rooms are organized around an inner courtyard from the formal to the informal and private.

The covered open court creates a sheltered, private space at the center. One approaches the house by a hidden, Chinese-like entry sequence of walls and cooling water elements. The entry / library serves the formal activities of orientation and entertainment, while the kitchen / family room is the informal room for living. The rest of the house is private and secluded from formal and domestic activities.
The layering of walls provides an intricate relationship between the landscape and the manmade. The solid/neutral colors of the walls provide a back drop to the more eccentric colors of the landscape. Similarly, the large flying roof serves as a canvas for the changing qualities of light reflected off the water and walls. Under the burning heat of the desert this house maintains the scale and appearance of shelter and privacy – a place of refuge and shade away from the hustle and bustle of this mirage-like town.



P U L I C A T I O N S :
- GA HOUSES 52, 1997
- GA HOUSES 55, 1998
- Architecture, August 1999
- A+U, 2001