5.29.07A safe bet new MotorCity will impress
Its new look is looking good
BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Among its stodgier critics, casino architecture is looked down upon as mere glitz and glitter.
But the new gaming room at Detroit's MotorCity Casino, which opens to the public next week as the first piece of a $275-million expansion, demonstrates casino architecture's two redeeming features.
First, with MotorCity's auto-themed swirls and lights and pizzazz, there's more architectural energy devoted to the smallest details than in almost any other field of design.
And second, MotorCity's lavish new facility shows that, unlike almost all other architectural endeavors, casinos have budgets expansive enough to indulge every whim.
True, all this creativity is aimed at separating players from their money. But as I saw last week during an exclusive Free Press tour of the new gaming room, MotorCity demonstrates that casino architecture can be remarkably creative -- as long as one doesn't mind being a bit overwhelmed.
Keying off Detroit's rich history of hod rods and muscle cars, the design of the new casino projects 1950s cruising iconography everywhere.
It's all part of what MotorCity Chief Executive Gregg Solomon calls the "future retro" look -- a deliberate attempt to echo Detroit's stylistic history while avoiding looking dated 10 years from now.
Wall displays mimic car upholstery. Ceiling fixtures look like chrome steering wheels or hubcaps. The flame motif -- omnipresent in carpeting and in the orange-tinted ceiling lights -- evokes the stylized flame decorations found on many hot rods.
Choosing an auto theme was just the beginning. Visitors will find an integration of audio, visual and lighting designs that probably has been done only in major theatrical venues.
Along the way, MotorCity tips its neon hat to its historic roots in a renovated 1916 bread factory. A lot of the exterior brick and terra cotta has been restored. And while much of the exterior will be covered in a metallic sheathing in months to come, enough of the original façade will remain to create a blend of old and new.
How MotorCity got its new look is instructive. There was, of course, a main interior designer, Genesis Associates of Santa Ana, Calif. Noted automotive designer Chip Foose contributed some of the wavy ceiling features. But everyone, from MotorCity's owner, Marian Ilitch, to the chief executive Solomon, got in on the day-to-day brainstorming.
What resulted was a multilayered, try-anything look. Decisions often had less to do with architectural theory than with gut judgments. Showing me around last week, Solomon explained numerous design decisions with a simple, "We thought it was a very cool look."
Any quibbles? Sure. Casinos tend to be isolated islands that contribute little to the pedestrian life of a city. After all, the whole point is to get people inside and keep them there.
But much the same could be said of the original Renaissance Center design (before General Motors corrected at least part of that problem). And it could be said of gated residential communities, or of the high-security government buildings in a post-9/11 world. Lack of pedestrian vitality is a broader problem created by many different types of buildings.
MotorCity's gaming room is just the first step toward what will become three permanent casinos in the city. The rest of MotorCity's campus, including a hotel, restaurants and meeting space, will open around November. MGM Grand's new Art Deco-styled casino will open about that same time. The expanded Greektown Casino opens about a year later.
That's a lot of casino architecture for one city to absorb. Many people no doubt will find it too much.
But in an age when architectural budgets are crimped, and design is often blandly conservative, and many architects count themselves lucky just to have a job, it's worth celebrating those rare architectural moments when anything goes.
Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or jgallagher@freepress.com.
Its new look is looking good
BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Among its stodgier critics, casino architecture is looked down upon as mere glitz and glitter.
But the new gaming room at Detroit's MotorCity Casino, which opens to the public next week as the first piece of a $275-million expansion, demonstrates casino architecture's two redeeming features.
First, with MotorCity's auto-themed swirls and lights and pizzazz, there's more architectural energy devoted to the smallest details than in almost any other field of design.
And second, MotorCity's lavish new facility shows that, unlike almost all other architectural endeavors, casinos have budgets expansive enough to indulge every whim.
True, all this creativity is aimed at separating players from their money. But as I saw last week during an exclusive Free Press tour of the new gaming room, MotorCity demonstrates that casino architecture can be remarkably creative -- as long as one doesn't mind being a bit overwhelmed.
Keying off Detroit's rich history of hod rods and muscle cars, the design of the new casino projects 1950s cruising iconography everywhere.
It's all part of what MotorCity Chief Executive Gregg Solomon calls the "future retro" look -- a deliberate attempt to echo Detroit's stylistic history while avoiding looking dated 10 years from now.
Wall displays mimic car upholstery. Ceiling fixtures look like chrome steering wheels or hubcaps. The flame motif -- omnipresent in carpeting and in the orange-tinted ceiling lights -- evokes the stylized flame decorations found on many hot rods.
Choosing an auto theme was just the beginning. Visitors will find an integration of audio, visual and lighting designs that probably has been done only in major theatrical venues.
Along the way, MotorCity tips its neon hat to its historic roots in a renovated 1916 bread factory. A lot of the exterior brick and terra cotta has been restored. And while much of the exterior will be covered in a metallic sheathing in months to come, enough of the original façade will remain to create a blend of old and new.
How MotorCity got its new look is instructive. There was, of course, a main interior designer, Genesis Associates of Santa Ana, Calif. Noted automotive designer Chip Foose contributed some of the wavy ceiling features. But everyone, from MotorCity's owner, Marian Ilitch, to the chief executive Solomon, got in on the day-to-day brainstorming.
What resulted was a multilayered, try-anything look. Decisions often had less to do with architectural theory than with gut judgments. Showing me around last week, Solomon explained numerous design decisions with a simple, "We thought it was a very cool look."
Any quibbles? Sure. Casinos tend to be isolated islands that contribute little to the pedestrian life of a city. After all, the whole point is to get people inside and keep them there.
But much the same could be said of the original Renaissance Center design (before General Motors corrected at least part of that problem). And it could be said of gated residential communities, or of the high-security government buildings in a post-9/11 world. Lack of pedestrian vitality is a broader problem created by many different types of buildings.
MotorCity's gaming room is just the first step toward what will become three permanent casinos in the city. The rest of MotorCity's campus, including a hotel, restaurants and meeting space, will open around November. MGM Grand's new Art Deco-styled casino will open about that same time. The expanded Greektown Casino opens about a year later.
That's a lot of casino architecture for one city to absorb. Many people no doubt will find it too much.
But in an age when architectural budgets are crimped, and design is often blandly conservative, and many architects count themselves lucky just to have a job, it's worth celebrating those rare architectural moments when anything goes.
Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or jgallagher@freepress.com.
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