In The News : 2005

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Market Makes Itself the Center of Attention

June 20, 2005

It's the "happy face" of Las Vegas, our sophisticated new icon, the brilliant and expanding star of the skyline ...

Or is it just a big, lonely box with a neon-tinged grin that's trying a little too hard to be a "Vegas building?"

Either way you look at the World Market Center's $12 million first phase - designed by the Jerde Partnership in Los Angeles in association with Las Vegas' JMA Architecture Studios - you're not alone. And while it seems everybody has a design opinion at one polar opposite or the other, there are acres of important middle ground that we seem to agree on.

First, WMC's opening statement is a bold one in a city where outside the Strip - the architecture has too often been driven by developers and their bottom lines. Rising 10 stories near the Spaghetti Bowl, in the dead center of town, it may be the most visible and headturning structure here since the Stratsophere. In other words, it has people not only gawking at architecture, but talking about it.

Which is why, while Curt Carlson, AIA, a principal with Swisher & Hall, sees the WMC as another example of an "outsider's perspective of what Las Vegas building is supposed to look like," he's still pleased that it's there, because "it's different than the typical Vegas office building."

"It definitely gets everybody to form an opinion," says Wade Simpson, AIA, a principal with Welles Pugsley Architects. "And whether that's positive or negative, at least we're discussing it, we're having a dialogue among people - and not just designers. It's important to discuss the influence that design has on what we are, what we're about, and the potential."

Second, while the debate over the WMC's form will go on for another decade as the next seven phases are rolled out, nobody's questioning the 57-acre campus' function.

"As a facility," Carlson says, "this is something we've desperately needed for a long time."

It's called economic diversity, of course. And many people in this one-engine town are banking that the WMC will be a dramatic introduction to that concept. Starting with jobs.

"When the project was [originally] projected to be five phases and 7.5 million square feet," says city Redevelopment Manager Steve van Gorp, "UNLV's Keith Schwer had done an impact study that projected a total of 35,000 direct and indirect jobs. Now that's it's 12.5 million square feet, it's got to be in the 45,000 to 50,000 range."

That first building, which will be put to work July 25-29 when the first "Market" event takes place, is just the start of Las Vegas being the furniture center of the universe, with the worldwide industry doing the bulk of their buying and selling here by 2015.

Prompt Van Gorp on that subject and he'll mentally download a whole new vision of Las Vegas.

"Besides old-line furniture companies, there's a second-tier of start-up furniture companies, light companies and galleries that are going to want to be near the mart, along the Martin Luther King corridor and down Bonanza, and they'll be converting space along Main Street into furniture showrooms. The Holsum. Lofts [on Charleston Boulevard] already have a couple."

There's much more: The city is talking to industry leaders about relocating manufacturing and distribution centers here (more likely the latter). "They're already going to be here selling year-round," Van Gorp says, "So they might as well have staff distributing furniture, too. We could see the Southwest become a distribution hub."

Architect Brad Schultz of the AIA sees potential beyond that, too. He believes Las Vegas not only has landed a progressively designed market center, but that the city itself can be a progressive design center.

"Not just in furniture," he says, "but in textiles, glass and other products. The same rules apply If you're looking to get a buyer to come to a place, whether it's for furniture or clothing, this is a great place for design. Las Vegas has everything they need."

Van Gorp agrees that the city is a potential "mart" magnet for industries, adding fashion and toys - now based in New York City - as prime examples. "They've giving Downtown Las Vegas a serious look," he says. "Since 9/11, with the devastated economy in New York, not everyone's sure if that is going to be the hub of the 21st century Las Vegas is postured to be a real international city. It's just now growing into its prime."

If other marts decide to roll the dice on Vegas, it wiR have a lot to do with how the WMC looks to them. Practically, its sheer size and mere presence seem to be impressive enough to shake off the old stigma about downtown Las Vegas. Aesthetically ... well, that will be changing with the seasons, as each new addition to the center contributes an individual expression to the overall architectural statement.

It's not the parts that concern longtime Las Vegas architect Charles Kubat, AIA, vice president for planning and design for the Carina Corporation. In fact, he likes the first building just fine. But he'd like to see the sum of the structures be a positive. "I only hope that the overall massing doesn't obliterate the 61 acres [behind it]," he says. "And I don't know what kind of ground-level environment will be created. With all of those people being housed there, they really have an opportunity to make the ground level a very interesting place."

That opportunity has not passed the planners by, Van Gorp promises.

"Right now you're seeing one building' standing there in the desert. This will be a complex connected by sky bridges and a plaza, with retail and cafes in the courtyard. When it's done, it'll be an animated space."

Not that there's anything wrong with it now. "I think Jerde was right on with the architecture, in designing it with a sense of place and as a Vegas icon. I think it makes you think global and of stability You also see a smile, and at night, when it lights up, it looks like a happy building."

Related Images

World Market Center

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