hospitalitystyle.com

(July 2008) posted on Wed Aug 06, 2008 EDT

Any designer who wants work in Sven Van Assche's mixed-use world will have to demonstrate the ability to play well with others.

Tweet

By Mary Scoviak

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sven Van Assche is a tough sell. More than 14 years of working in Las Vegas has made him impervious to bells and whistles. When deciding on commissions, this vice president of MGM Mirage's Design Group is more interested in conversation that demonstrates the architect or designer "gets" MGM Mirage's program, project, scope and goals than in presentations loaded with pyrotechnic wow moments. "It's all about the people," he says.

Designers and architects don't even cross the boardroom threshold until Van Assche visits their offices and tests the chemistry. "If the choice of architect or designer isn't a perfect match, the client will never be 100 percent satisfied with the product. I don't want a dog and pony show at our headquarters. I want to get to know the people in the firm, and the best way to do that is to visit them ‘at home,' " he says. "You can learn a lot about the character of a firm by looking at how its principals set up shop."

There's no checklist of rights and wrongs. Any style can find a place in an MGM Mirage project, so the all-white minimalist office is no more or less likely to resonate with Van Assche than one crowded with samples and design boards. "True, not every designer or architect can do every job. But there's no wrong approach. What I'm looking for are firms that will try something neither they nor anyone else has
done before-and deliver that within our business model."

That would sound trite coming from a different source. But the selection process for the designers and architects who would collaborate on MGM Mirage's more than $9 billion "urban metropolis," CityCenter in Las Vegas, reveals how much "out of the box" is part of Van Assche's own modus operandi. His search for architects and designers follows the character of the specific project.

Hotel experience isn't mandatory, not even for a groundbreaking complex such as the 67-acre CityCenter, envisioned as a new urban core along the fabled Strip. "We have 300 people in our group who are experts in every aspect of the hospitality side of design, from cost estimating to scheduling and procurement.
That means I can venture out into a world of architects and designers who had never worked in Las Vegas before and tap into their talent," he says.