We are currently undertaking a design of a casino (4th Year) and have a completely open brief. What books/architects can we look at, and what do we need to consider putting in the brief?

We understand that we need an underlying theme to the whole casino and have already discussed several things we want to put in, such as:

Casino
Casino support facilities - staff areas, security, offices, vault area
Carparking
Hotel
Bar
Restaurant
Kids area
Strip Club
Water feature

I've already ordered this book: Casino Design Resorts, Hotels, and Themed Entertainment Spaces

Also would anyone know where to get CAD drawings of casinos to populate the floor plans? i.e. tables and the like

Any help would be great!

Well, I bet "learning from Las Vegas" Venturi might be a good reference, (a bit old maybe)...

Also would anyone know where to get CAD drawings of casinos to populate the floor plans? i.e. tables and the like

Any help would be great!

We tried to get some plans while we were there for our 4th yr. studio. Our site was in Las Vegas, and on the trip we got to talk to quite a few local architects. We asked about casino plans, but they would not give them out. Security for their vaults.

Maybe better luck with European casinos?

Well, I bet "learning from Las Vegas" Venturi might be a good reference, (a bit old maybe)...

Never a bit old! Vegas hasn't changed their mindset much over the past few years. The only mindset that has changed is possibly the loss of a strict family "theme" for each casino/hotel (Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Wynn).

It's still shed architecture...

Well, here is this thread about the Steven Holl Casino in Belgium (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109&highlight=casino+hotel)in case you didnt notice it...

Well, I bet "learning from Las Vegas" Venturi might be a good reference, (a bit old maybe)...
Ja ja , nearly funny .
I believe Venturi had greater aspirations from the book than a guide to casino design :D .
As for populating the floor plans with tables , scan Time saver standards , insert image as a 2 bit tiff , crop as required . Of course you can also design the layouts :D

I would recommend watching casino and oceans 11 & 12 again for inspiration. Also one thing i noticed in all the casinos in vegas is the lifts to the rooms are always at the rear of the building. This way anyone entering or leaving the hotel has to cross the gaming floor and thus get drawn in. Line of sight is also hugely important in the design of casinos so the dealers and players can be watched this could be a good starting point for a design.

Also one thing i noticed in all the casinos in vegas is the lifts to the rooms are always at the rear of the building.

Not true. The newer hotels (Wynn, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio) may take you past a portion of the casino, but never to the back of the house as older casinos in Vegas do. The newest addition to Mandalay Bay is TheHotel, and it has a separate entrance and a quicker entrance to the elevators.

I'd question the idea that Vegas is evolving and insert your own ideas about the future of casinos/gaming towns.

tr

Hi I saw that you did a project on a casino. I would greatly appreciate any information you or your collegues gathered during that process. What projects succeeded? What were the failings of the various projects? What precedents did you study? any information would be much appreciated. The reason I am interested is that I am currently doing a thesis entitled 'a casino for Ireland'.

Kids area
Strip Club
Water feature



great programme...

so why not shift and re-think the whole casino thing and - in the advent of rising internet on-line casinos - look at how you can make a building wich deals with customers going online?
maybe that will let you deal with issues of reality and the physical world loosing people to cyberspace : which is a valid urban issue at this time.
Casinos anyway (even not online) take people out of reality and put them in a fake created reality : why not explore the ole of the internet in this?

ok:depending on what year of study and what the goals of the course are!!!!!

Thanks for your interesting thoughts, they are much appreciated. Here are just a few of my own; I don't think that online casinos will totally replace physical casinos because these are spaces offering that which cyberspace cannot. For some people a trip to the casino offers an escape
(which is physical as well as mental) from their house and the associated stresses of daily life, or sometimes a social outlet.
Is the physical world loosing people to cyberspace a valid urban issue?
You said, 'Casinos anyway (even not online) take people out of reality and put them in a fake created reality.' But, unless the casino is themed or something this is true for all buildings... in the same way someone goes in off a man-make street into a man-made bakery, school or casino... its all the same... they are all 'fake created reality'.
In terms of designing a building that deals with customers going online, I struggle to see an architectural or spacial correlation, unless your talking about a very large internet cafe or something.
Please elaborate nimmo because I find your comments interesting.

Thanks for your interesting thoughts, they are much appreciated. Here are just a few of my own; I don't think that online casinos will totally replace physical casinos because these are spaces offering that which cyberspace cannot. For some people a trip to the casino offers an escape
(which is physical as well as mental) from their house and the associated stresses of daily life, or sometimes a social outlet.
Is the physical world loosing people to cyberspace a valid urban issue?
You said, 'Casinos anyway (even not online) take people out of reality and put them in a fake created reality.' But, unless the casino is themed or something this is true for all buildings... in the same way someone goes in off a man-make street into a man-made bakery, school or casino... its all the same... they are all 'fake created reality'.
In terms of designing a building that deals with customers going online, I struggle to see an architectural or spacial correlation, unless your talking about a very large internet cafe or something.
Please elaborate nimmo because I find your comments interesting.

Hi :
I guess if one were to explore an academic idea : and its effect on the built environment (thus its effect/role for architecture) , then the issue of people moving out of the real world and ito cyberspace becomes a topical debate.

Already : rather than meeting together to chat in an 'salon of architecture' in beaux artes times , or an 'architectural bookstore' 10 years ago- we are having this discussion in a forum that needs no built /real environment at all.
Thats got to have an influence on the way the build cities. (no corner bookshops : we are all somewhere else buying from amazon)

Ok : so the casino thing : While I agree the likes of shops and bakeries are 'created enviroments' ...the casino is an enviroment which by its very nature seeks to take you completely out of the urban situation (and surrounding distractions) and keep you so content you will not leave, excited , well fed and 'wined'. And keep you there as long as it can.

A bakery does not try do that : a bakery/deli is happy to capture patrons , make a sale and let them loose back into the urban society : to eat thier rolls in a park with someone who did not go to the bakery.
No deli wants you not to go home /out/into the city : and thus try prevent you leaving /going out-doors.

A casino tries to completly re-create a 'fake urban society' sothat you would never want to leave , or feel the need to interact with others. It want you to a) not know the time of day (thus well lit) b: not leave to get food c)not communicate and interact : they want you excited at being there with the noise and lights : but not commuinating/chatting : they want you playing slots!

So for me they are the prime example of a type which attempts to take people out of circulation in the 'real world' and keep you in a 'created world'

Alot like the internet......

casino's purpose is to create an 'overwhelming' experience so that people are willing to part with their money, to the extent that the gamblers hopefully will return again... even after they lost their money.

'gambling', like any other game, is considered as 'play'. And by definition, play refers to 'interactions'

what is the spirit that makes a casino different from other building ... like... a large hangar filled with gambling tables, for example?