10.02.07
Façade hides jewel within
Casino design rivals any on Vegas Strip
BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
If the new MGM Grand Detroit casino landed on the fantasyland of the Las Vegas Strip, it would be, at least from the exterior, the mildest entry there.
Even here in Motown, the signature skyline image of the 18-story hotel portion of the MGM Grand offers just an updated version of a 1920s-era Art Deco skyscraper. There's a sense of old-time Detroit architecture freshened up, but nothing Vegas-like that screams "casino."
Step inside the doors, however, and any idea of architectural sedateness vanishes. From the gaming floor to the 10 restaurants and lounges, the MGM Grand offers, as its promotional material boasts, an environment like nothing Detroit has seen before.
Casino design rivals any on Vegas Strip
BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
If the new MGM Grand Detroit casino landed on the fantasyland of the Las Vegas Strip, it would be, at least from the exterior, the mildest entry there.
Even here in Motown, the signature skyline image of the 18-story hotel portion of the MGM Grand offers just an updated version of a 1920s-era Art Deco skyscraper. There's a sense of old-time Detroit architecture freshened up, but nothing Vegas-like that screams "casino."
Step inside the doors, however, and any idea of architectural sedateness vanishes. From the gaming floor to the 10 restaurants and lounges, the MGM Grand offers, as its promotional material boasts, an environment like nothing Detroit has seen before.
Writers such as Tom Wolfe noted 40 years ago that curvy, swoopy, playful casino architecture had pushed beyond the realm of ordinary criticism. So much happens in the new MGM Grand, so much visual energy pulsates at every turn that at some point an architectural critic puts away his notebook and surrenders.
At MGM Grand, multiple spaces vie for attention, each a unique showcase. Step on an elevator in one spot and the floors shimmer with fire-and-ice imagery. Order a drink at a lounge elsewhere and watch the ceiling ripple like water in a pool as the level of voices rises and falls.
At the Wolfgang Puck restaurant, deer antlers hanging from the ceiling compete with the most contemporary design. Elsewhere, a wall is never just a wall: It might be recycled bottles behind glass, stacks of firewood or reclaimed bricks arranged in patterns. But these are just a handful out of dozens.
Unlike the nearby MotorCity Casino, where the new gaming floor evokes automotive imagery, MGM keeps the Detroit iconography to a minimum. There are no light fixtures that recall hubcaps or wall coverings that resemble car upholstery from the '50s.
Rather, there's a general emphasis on -- what to call all this? -- sophisticated, luxurious, glittering, glitzy colors and fixtures. Off the lobby of the MGM hotel tower, there's a firewall -- a horizontal recess halfway up the wall and almost the width of the room -- that jazzes up the old notion of a fireplace several notches. There are Zen-inspired pools in the spa, telephones with video screens in the hotel rooms, lots of cascading fountains, projected video all over the place.
With so much happening, it's no surprise that the list of architects and designers is long. Two Detroit firms, Hamilton-Anderson Associates and SmithGroup, crafted the basic architecture. But a roster of specialized designers worked on the hotel, the spa, the restaurants and lounges.
Critics of casinos are fond of noting that there are almost no windows, the better to keep everyone's attention on the business of losing money. But there are no windows in a movie theater, either, and for the same reason -- to create a fantasy space that captures the entire attention of its visitors.
At the MGM Grand, that pixie-dust atmosphere comes wrapped in a sedate exterior, which must be a metaphor for the solidity of Detroit's work ethic hiding the party soul within.
Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com
Find this article at:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071002/BUSINESS04/710020304/1002/BUSINESS
At MGM Grand, multiple spaces vie for attention, each a unique showcase. Step on an elevator in one spot and the floors shimmer with fire-and-ice imagery. Order a drink at a lounge elsewhere and watch the ceiling ripple like water in a pool as the level of voices rises and falls.
At the Wolfgang Puck restaurant, deer antlers hanging from the ceiling compete with the most contemporary design. Elsewhere, a wall is never just a wall: It might be recycled bottles behind glass, stacks of firewood or reclaimed bricks arranged in patterns. But these are just a handful out of dozens.
Unlike the nearby MotorCity Casino, where the new gaming floor evokes automotive imagery, MGM keeps the Detroit iconography to a minimum. There are no light fixtures that recall hubcaps or wall coverings that resemble car upholstery from the '50s.
Rather, there's a general emphasis on -- what to call all this? -- sophisticated, luxurious, glittering, glitzy colors and fixtures. Off the lobby of the MGM hotel tower, there's a firewall -- a horizontal recess halfway up the wall and almost the width of the room -- that jazzes up the old notion of a fireplace several notches. There are Zen-inspired pools in the spa, telephones with video screens in the hotel rooms, lots of cascading fountains, projected video all over the place.
With so much happening, it's no surprise that the list of architects and designers is long. Two Detroit firms, Hamilton-Anderson Associates and SmithGroup, crafted the basic architecture. But a roster of specialized designers worked on the hotel, the spa, the restaurants and lounges.
Critics of casinos are fond of noting that there are almost no windows, the better to keep everyone's attention on the business of losing money. But there are no windows in a movie theater, either, and for the same reason -- to create a fantasy space that captures the entire attention of its visitors.
At the MGM Grand, that pixie-dust atmosphere comes wrapped in a sedate exterior, which must be a metaphor for the solidity of Detroit's work ethic hiding the party soul within.
Contact JOHN GALLAGHER at 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com
Find this article at:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071002/BUSINESS04/710020304/1002/BUSINESS
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