The unusual title of this book comes from a fundamental AvroKO design principle, "best ugly," which originated from a trip to China, where the term signifies something that is beautiful and charming in ...
Steel City grit meets Vegas-style glitz in an innovative gaming complex.
By Matthew Hall
Conventional wisdom holds that casinos should be self-enclosed spaces that don’t offer visual clues as to the passage of time, so patrons are more likely to keep gambling. The glass-heavy façade of the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh throws that dictum literally out the window.
The reason for that see-through approach: Backers of the project on Pittsburgh’s North Shore felt the views of the city’s adjoining “Golden Triangle” skyline would add to the casino’s allure. “We turned the entertainment elements of the casino outward, to embrace the city,” said Scott Walls, president of Bergman Walls, the Las Vegas-based firm that served as the architect of record/design architect for the project.
The slots-only complex sits on a 12-acre site that formerly housed rail yards and a steel mill. Its design pays homage to Pittsburgh’s industrial heritage through an extensive use of glass, steel and aluminum. In a further nod to the area’s manufacturing roots, the casino’s creators – which also included Las Vegas-based Cleo Design and Pittsburgh’s own Strada Architecture – installed a series of industrial drum-shaped structures throughout the two-story, 450,000-square-foot complex.
Most prominent is an 86-foot-high cylindrical glass atrium at the center of the building’s front façade that houses the Drum Bar. Its focal is a circular bar sheltered under a drum-shaped light feature composed of tiered layers of hanging white acrylic strips backed by color-changing LEDs. Drum shapes are scattered throughout the complex’s gaming floor and restaurants, from the ceiling soffits to the chandeliers.
For all its references to Pittsburgh’s past, the casino also offers some design touches that would be right at home on the Strip, including cascading water features and luxurious patterned carpeting.
Rivers Casino’s owners say they are pleased with the way the complex mixes homage to the site’s blue-collar back story with some Sin City swank. “The end result is a destination that makes people feel comfortable and at ease, which is exactly what we asked the design team provide us with,” said Ed Fasulo, the casino’s president and chief operating officer.
Project Participants:
Owner:
Holdings Acquisition Co. LP, Pittsburgh
Architect of Record/Design Architect:
Bergman Walls & Associates Ltd., Las Vegas
Urban Design/Landscape Architect:
Strada Architecture LLC, Pittsburgh
Interior Design:
Cleo Design, Las Vegas; The Hannah Jones Group, Detroit; Floss Barber Inc., Philadelphia
Design Consultants:
Illuminating Concepts, Farmington Hills, Mich. (lighting); HKA Elevator Consulting, Laguna Hills, Calif. (elevator); Eslick Design Associates Inc., Tulsa, Okla. (signage)
Engineering:
The Harman Group, King of Prussia, Pa. (structural engineering and parking consultant); Chester Engineers, Moontown, Pa., and GAI Consultants, Homestead, Pa. (civil engineering); CDC Consulting Engineers, Hartville, Ohio (roofing/curtain wall); Chips Davis Design, Concord, Calif. (acoustical engineering); AE&E Associates, Greeley, Colo. (M/E/P/Fire Protection); JBA Consulting Engineers, Las Vegas (code analysis); Accessibility Development Associates Inc., Pittsburgh (ADA consultant)
Food Service:
JEM West, Las Vegas
Security/Surveillance:
Mike Malia & Associates, Harbor Township, N.J