The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
Brand-defining guest experiences, theatrical attractions and video installations
Client: The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
Interior Design: Rockwell Group
Role: Art Direction, Design, Previsualization, Motion Graphics, Press Renderings
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas rebrand began with a bold ambition - to disrupt the status quo and bring a new notion of luxury to the Las Vegas market - through a mash up of art, architecture, innovative digital technology and unique programming.
As the founder and leader of IOMEDIA’s design visualization team embedded at the architecture firm Rockwell Group, I collaborated with The LAB, Rockwell’s digital innovation studio, as well as Digital Kitchen, to create kinetic spaces that positioned the guest in the spectacle of the Vegas experience, using the virtual world to enhance the physical space and to make spaces immersive works of art.
The Immersive Lobby Experience transformed what was a dark, cramped space, by wrapping eight, 15' tall structural columns in 384 HD screens, as well as a panel spanning the length of the front desk, continuously displaying a curated library of digital art, transforming the space into an immersive living narrative that incorporates elegant, fantastical and often poetic interpretations of life's travels.
The interactive architectural feature offers a mix of generative and pre-rendered content with camera sensors built-in that offer interactive moments. The concept was to expand the story not just through the use of space, but through time, by cycling content so that anytime visitors returned to the lobby, they’re bound to see something different, another chapter of the story.
My team produced a series of animated 3D vignettes that explored the concept of space - both between, and within, the columns - focusing on fusing intimate, material details, grand narrative spectacle and digital technology. The vignettes also proposed the initial “4 Seasons” narrative, with reactive elements, as well as the means of using all of the screens, working together in concert, as one large, interconnected canvas.
Our early previz testing revealed the most basic technology that added dimensionality to the experience - two-way mirrors covering the video screens, similar to the cladding on the floor and ceiling, that helped expand the space by visually extending the columns vertically in both directions.
Because of the mirror, bright portions of the display screens emitted light and entered into the physical space, while in the dark areas, the mirror reflected and brought the physical space into virtual space – blurring the lines between both.
In the digital art and content, the core values of connectivity and coming together were achieved by the reactive nature of the display screens as guests' movements around the lobby drove generative content – causing leaves to swirls and coalesce into a deer, for example.
Off the lobby area is the dream-like Chandelier Bar wrapped in 21 miles of crystal beading – appearing from the outside as an iconic object (of immense proportions), and from the inside a surreal immersive experience. Three embedded digital installations were projected onto the shimmering mesh to create an atmosphere of fantasy realism. The interactive experience was different depending on your position to the cocoon – outside, or inside, on 3 different levels.
The art / curation / narration, and blending the spectacular and intimate, extended to design and visualization of the Talon Club High Limit Lounge, and China Poblano Restaurant
