Chapter 3: Authenticity in Different Degree of Displacement Architecture
3.3 Urban Leisure Vernacular Architecture in Las Vegas
3.3.3 Duck vs Decorated Shed vs Duplitecture in Las Vegas
development from the leisure resort, the signage is not enough to please the public lust for exotic leisure life, as usual as in the past. The first series of the resort developments during the first decade of the strip include El Rancho(1941), Hotel Last Frontier(1942), Flamingo Hotel(1946), The Thunderbird(1948), Desert Inn(1950), Sahara(1952), Sands(1952).
These developments fiercely compete with one another, and apparently beyond their architectural statement about monumentality.
The signage and the façade was the tools to communicate with the exterior, some even use the strategy of put the pools and bikini girls next to the road to attract visitors. But mainly the real magic was inside the building, both of the spectacular show and the interior space was the main tools. They always compete together and have to change the show content and also often new renovations of the spaces. The development and transformation of Las Vegas and the Strip after the published of Learning from Las Vegas is really step up to the next level when the signage alone is not enough to define the new authenticity for leisure and tourism anymore.
in the city over a number of decades suddenly leveled down, although the city did not suffer greatly. Many questioned whether the glory days of the 1950s and 1960s had vanished permanently. They were not required to wait long. Las Vegas, the City of Second Chances, was on the verge of one of the most extraordinary revolutions in its 75-year history, unbeknownst to anyone.
- Decorated shed and the Duck from the Strip.
Figure 94 Duck and Decorated shed comparison in Learning from Las Vegas Retrieved from sinclairkcmak.wordpress.com/
Learning from Las Vegas revealed two sorts of typical buildings and, as a result, two forms of signage. The ornamented shared signage was generally overscaled and overused in comparison to the very discrete and frequently small-scale architecture linked with it here. Frequently, the sign played a larger role than the structure itself; in essence, the sign has become the architecture. The second form was the duck, in which the structure itself served as the sign and effectively communicated the building's purpose.
The investigation of highway architecture by Venturi and Brown demonstrates that the sign in front of a business is more significant than the building itself. This reduction of functionalism demonstrates how symbolism can be used to communicate spatial relationships. This concept is best understood as a result of what Venturi a brand termed the rule of Route 66: a decorated shed.
The highway is littered with dispersed architecture, exemplified by the small structure with the massive sign in front. This is a regular occurrence in Las Vegas, where large, extravagant structures may be spotted from a distance and at fast speeds. Venturi and Brown also mention that the building is typically situated back from the road and has an odd, modest style and size, which is the same principle employed by hotels and fast- food restaurants to attract customers through roadside architecture. Venturi and Brown
explain the significance of the prominent symbol by stating that if design is eliminated, the relationship to location is gone. If the ideas are accurate, it is conceivable that a car going at high speed will have little to no knowledge of the approaching structure. The opposite of decorated sheds, which employ science to explain function, is the architecture of ducks.
The fact that duck architecture is self-referential tells us that the buildings' form and construction are intended to symbolize their purpose.
A decade after Duck and Decorated shed published in Learning from Las Vegas, in the mid-1980's, The Las Vegas economy has been boosted by the rapid rise of gaming and tourism, resulting in the creation of tens of thousands of employment. The population of the Las Vegas metropolitan region expanded from 273,000 to 466,805 throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The population of the metropolitan area expanded by 31 percent in the following decade, to 612,602. During the 1980s, the population of Clark County's neighboring suburbs like Henderson rose by over 150%, according to census data. The investment from the commercial and capitalism, like from Wall Street, is the main factor that define the next revolution of leisure and tourism architecture development to the new authenticity and bring the Duck and Decorated to the evolution and expand out of the Strip.
- Technology Led to Duplicated Iconic and Architectural Monumentality.
Because to the aging of the World War II generation, the decline of organized crime, and the rise of baby boomer entrepreneurs who brought about the megaresort period, Las Vegas' Mafia era peaked in the mid-20th century and progressively faded away in the 1980s. Las Vegas became a more family-friendly destination when large firms began buying hotels, casinos, and nightclubs from Mafia lords. With the opening of The Mirage in 1989, the megaresort era was born. The first resort to be financed by Wall Street through the issue of junk bonds for $630 million was built by entrepreneur Steve Wynn. A new standard of luxury was set in Las Vegas when the 3,044 rooms, each with gold-tinted windows, drew hordes of tourists, resulting in more funding and rapid expansion down the Las Vegas Strip. Several historic hotels and other buildings were demolished to make place for larger and more opulent resorts, including:
▪ 1990: Rio and Excalibur
▪ 1993: MGM Grand, Treasure Island, and Luxor,
▪ 1996: Stratosphere Tower and Monte Carlo
▪ 1997: New York-New York
▪ 1998: Bellagio
▪ 1999: Mandalay Bay, Venetian, and Paris
▪ 2000: Planet Hollywood (Formerly Aladdin)
▪ 2001: Palms
▪ 2005: Wynn
Mirage the origin of exotic duplicated architecture
Prior to the building of the Mirage, the city experienced a fall in tourism that began in the 1970s, particularly around the time that New Jersey legalized gambling and tourists began to patronize Atlantic City's casinos. Also, this was a time when Las Vegas was no longer deemed a trendy destination or, to put it plainly, no longer provided visitors with an authentic experience. Therefore, a fresh, high-profile initiative was required to revitalize the failing sector. In 1989, Wynn put his money where his mouth was and opened The Mirage. Nobody had ever seen anything like it before. It was opulent, even by the standards of Las Vegas. And not simply because it was the world's largest hotel. This extravagant resort featured 3,000 rooms, an indoor forest, a large waterfall, and an outdoor volcano. Within a few months, it eclipsed Hoover Dam as Nevada's most popular tourist attraction. It also halted a 15-year construction lull on the Strip, where no big resort had been constructed since the 1970s.
Figure 95 The Mirage opening in 1989, the juxtapose of incompatibility elements Retrieved fromlasvegasweekly.com/mirage-remade-las-vegas-25-years-ago
What made the Mirage different from other Vegas casinos was that it existed primarily to be spectacular, to define the new authenticity experience. The previous development in Las Vegas had been trying for quite a while to attract middle-class families to the city, but they’d been operating as if the middle-class American family were a rational entity swayed by low prices and familiarity, not like the beach leisure city development in early 20th century that they provide the heterotopia and authentic space like amusement park juxtaposed to the beach. That's what middle-class travelers are looking for in a casino hotspot, according to Wynn. Not that a gambling resort appeals to the logic of the middle class, but that it allows for the suspension of rationality. When it comes to losing, "We're glad to keep losing as long as we feel like we're winning," There had to be something more intricate going on at the Mirage than just enticing gamblers with a chance of winning a million dollars or more. It had to convince its consumers that they had already made a fortune, while at the same time making them poorer.
Figure 96 Mobile Circus from Cirque du Soleil and White Tiger, the exotic experience that define authenticity
Retrieved fromwww.richasi.com/Cirque/Historia/1993.htm
Even the Mirage defines the new authenticity from the activities and space inside, for the image and monumentality is not the part that Wynn focuses on much. Show them the world, literally, through the building's gold-dust façade. At the time of its opening, the Mirage was the world's largest hotel. In its early years, the Mirage was unlike any hotel Vegas had ever seen. This is now difficult to recall, however, as successive Vegas casinos have gone even further down the path of hallucinogenic opulence. Not everything
was neon and showgirls. It was enchantment as white tigers and contortionist acrobats from Cirque du Soleil's mobile circus debuted in a Mirage parking lot tent.
American opulence is characterized by a shift from elegance to comfort. Before the Mirage, Las Vegas was associated with reasonably well-dressed people in pretty drab interiors; after the Mirage, it became associated with slobs in breathtaking movie settings.
The nature of American enjoyment is to always shift from maturity to childhood. Before the Mirage, Vegas is all about gambling, drinking, and sex; after the Mirage, its hedonism is diluted by putting it in castles replete with circuses, fountains, and cosplayers in Spider- Man costumes. Las Vegas as a genuine company, Las Vegas as a luxury consumer experience, Las Vegas as a location to dine on world-class cuisine, was the true fascination about flashing lights and shops in the mall of the Venice. The casino surrounding even brings in a replica of Venetian canals, all of which are first introduced by the Mirage. The feeling that you could travel there to feel authentic, not only to feel nice, could be fulfilled at the city’s Mirage.
The monumentality-duplicated architecture was continually developed for a decade in Las Vegas, much shorter than the first flourish time of the strip from 1950-1970, the duplitecture or duplication of architecture from after Because it was opened in 1977 that "Las Vegas" became what it is today, it represents a real divider between the old Las Vegas and the new Las Vegas. All of the possibilities had changed. A battle at Caesars Palace or an Elvis impersonator are all that Las Vegas has to offer before the Mirage; a trip to the Eiffel Tower and a large hot air balloon.
Figure 97 Luxor with iconic Pyramid, Sphinx and replicate Obelisk as the signage Retrieved fromtheculturetrip.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-las-vegas-luxor-hotel/
From the continuity of Duck and Decorated shed in Learning from Las Vegas, the development in the 90’s is totally pushing the idea of displacement to the further step, with the big investment, the creation of 1:1 or life size scale of miniature city comes to real. The pilgrimage route for leisure come to Vegas, the monumentality of world seven wonders from Egypt arrives at Luxor in 1996. The pyramid's metal and glass exterior. The metal and glass pyramid, at a height of 30 stories, was one of the greatest construction undertakings ever undertaken. On July 9, 1993, the pyramid was completed. MGM Grand and Treasure Island, two additional new casinos, would compete with the Luxor. Families could enjoy their vacations at all three of these destinations. The displacement architecture was fully operated as the means to define authenticity with difference and repetition of the monumentality to create heterotopia in leisure architecture.
Figure 98 Luxor interior with Egyptian miniature city inside the glass pyramid Retrieved fromwww.pinterest.com/pin/413134965807629193/
With the inclusion of the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park behind the casino, the MGM Grand was intended to become a destination hotel in the Las Vegas area.
The intention was to make the Las Vegas Strip more family-friendly by providing activities for those too young to remain in the casino. The theme park did not reopen for the 2001 season due to its dismal performance. Similar to Treasure Island, which launched with a focus on family-friendly entertainment, including a pirate show. However, shortly after launching, resort administrators found that the resort's prominent pirate motif did not appeal to weekend-trippers. Three years after the resort launched with a pirate performance that was more commercially oriented, Wynn began a lengthy makeover of
the property to boost commerce. The authenticity experience of Las Vegas seemed to flow into the repetition of the displacement architecture after the unsuccessful development of Theme Park style casino without the monumentality or iconic architecture of MGM Grand and Treasure Island.
Figure 99 MGM Grand in 1996 with the Lion that symbolize the MGM studio logo, which unsuccessful as the iconic and remove after the renovation, same as the theme like
Wizard of OZ.
Retrieved from www.flickr.com/photos/pbavol/5535492967
Figure 100 Pirate show and the skull signage fail to define authenticity at the Strip.
Retrieved fromwww.lasvegas360.com/1993-treasure-island/
With the task of leisure city to attract middle class group to feel like they were escape of middle-class life, Las Vegas in the 1990’s is totally on its way to define and establish the new authenticity of Leisure city. After some few tests, now it seems like the tools of create the difference places from other leisure city by doing the repetition may be same as the way Deleuze goes on to define repetition as "difference without a concept".
The iconic of leisure and touristic city from all over the world can move here with the enormous investment. With the continuously development of Monte Carlo(1996), New York-New York(1997), Bellagio(1998) and Mandalay Bay, Venetian and Paris totally mark the idea of the whole repetition of the iconic architecture into the world of leisure architecture development, even the name of the place did not have to change to create the repetition as to create difference without a concept at all.
Figure 101 Monte Carlo with fully detail of duplitecture from French Riviera Retrieved from casino.fandom.com/wiki/Monte_Carlo
Figure 102 New York New York, juxtaposed of monumentality and amusement park Retrieved fromen.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York-New_York_Hotel_and_Casino
Figure 103 Bellagio, the famous fountains show with the depict of Bellagio at Lake Como Retrieved frombellagio.mgmresorts.com/en.html
Figure 104 The Venetian duplitecture designed around a simulacrum of Venetian canals Retrieved fromwww.insider.com/guides/travel/venetian-hotel-review-las-vegas
Figure 105 Paris Las Vegas, where you can swim in the middle of monumental architecture.
Retrieved fromwww.lasvegas360.com/1993-treasure-island/
Taking a lead from Wynn's building of The Mirage, the venues that began to appear on the Strip were unlike the ordinary, forgettable hotels seen in any other American metropolis. They resembled castles from the Middle Ages and Egyptian pyramids. From Venice, one could see the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the New York City skyline. Golden facades glistened in the dusty heat. A stunning fountain show has become a major tourist draw. Las Vegas's most recognizable hotels, including Excalibur, MGM Grand, Treasure Island, Luxor, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, and Paris, were built within a decade.
Las Vegas' economic growth was hampered by the subprime mortgage crisis (2007-2010) and the recession of the late 1990s. Proposals for new projects were put on hold, and construction projects were either canceled, postponed, or continued with financial difficulties. MGM Mirage's City Center, Fontainebleau, Echelon, and The Plaza were
among the properties included in this group of developments. Gaming and tourist revenues were also negatively impacted by the global financial crisis, resulting in numerous enterprises reporting net losses. Empty parking spaces on the Strip had a negative impact on other casinos' foot traffic by 2010. But the development of displacement architecture during its best in the connection to new millennium was the experience of authenticity not even for the Las Vegas but for the world of leisure and tourism.
With the idea of fully equipped Polynesian-themed resort might came from the idea of created more extreme exotic experience, not only that still related to the beach city for leisure experience that before and also with the funding from wall street, made it very sensible to do the displacement like in the Hinemihi from the New Zealand vernacular to England, but in the sense of to create and define their own authenticity for Las Vegas, it’s like the combination of pilgrimage route for the leisure to the foundation of beach as the leisure city, pleasure park, miniature city, theme park, it’s like all include one stop service for leisure in the desert middle of nowhere.
Figure 106 Timeline conclusion and the degree of authenticity from 8 factors in Las Vegas.
From the development timeline it shown that Las Vegas since the development of labor leisure city of gambling and drinking city the search for the new authenticity was never stop. Even the classes of the visitors are change from time to time, but the authenticity seeking was always there with every class. All the 8 factors that we consider to create authenticity was used in the maximum degree since the beginning to define the maximum degree of authenticity that can be experience in Las Vegas. Because of the foundation of the city that was not based on the living conditions since the early development, the investor or developer of the projects that link with the mafia or illegal activities since the beginning also create the identity of the city that can be open to the new development that is not follow the ordinary rules. Even the investment funds come from Wall Street and the global investor later on but this identity always stay in Las Vegas.
The degree of displacement and authenticity in Las Vegas was the revolution of the leisure city development towards the 21st century, even the internet or WEB 1.0 or WEB 2.0 not exited yet, but the development of Las Vegas really define the new authenticity of leisure city. It’s not about the wellness of elite class to visit the beach city to separate the leisure class like in the 19th century or the working hour to define leisure life after industrial revolution to define new social reform. Las Vegas is the first city to develop the leisure city to the global scale, it is transformed from the labor leisure city to the signage and iconic of the strip to attracted the American visitor from the highway. But with the development towards the global leisure city, the displacement architecture of monumentality and iconic from all around the world was the right tools to define the authenticity for tourists all over the world. Even the development was very intense at the end of 20th century and later on the trend in Las Vegas was changed but the authenticity of displacement is still there and the tourists from all over the world still seeking for the authenticity in Las Vegas.