Visiting Las Vegas

[Zach Watson]

My wife and I are going to be going on a vacation to Las Vegas here in a couple of weeks and I was wondering what some good places to visit would be in terms of design aspects.  I have never been and I know that in regards to architecture and what types if projects are build they do some crazy stuff but I don’t know anything about landscape projects there.  Thanks for the help and imput.

[Todd McCurdy, FASLA, CLARB]

The top thing I can think of to go to is Springs Preserve. Great architecture, LA and it’s a wonderful sustainable project. They have desert gardens and great learning experiences too. Have lunch at Wolfgang Pucks while there. http://www.springspreserve.org/plan/plan_your_visit.html

[Todd McCurdy, FASLA, CLARB]

And if you want to see some great nature as well, go up to Red Rock Canyon. It’s beautiful, it’s cooler than the valley, and it’s quite accessible. http://www.desertusa.com/redrock/

[Trace One]

I have stayed on the ‘old strip’ at Binyions, and I think that is a great vegas experience, compared to the new strip..betting and gambling going on 24 hours, you loose track of the world, the outdoors..To me that is vegas..Although that MAY not be the kind of recommendation you are looking for in a landscape site!
good luck!
🙂

[Brett Lezon]

I’d recommend visiting Hoover Dam, City Center, Bellagio fountain show, The Mirage volcano eruption

Visit both Fremont Street (Old Las Vegas/Downtown) and The Strip

I was in Vegas late March and had a great time! Enjoy!

[Boilerplater]

Ooh, I could show you all the projects I worked on that are now abandoned construction sites!
I must concur about the Springs Preserve. It even has a sustainable design library. City Center is worth seeing for a one-of-a kind urban design…make sure you sneak out to the pool area of Aria. Its really well done. Dress nice and act like you belong and they wont ask for a key card. They have some giant Bottle trees of a type I’ve never seen used here before. I believe they’re Queensland Bottle Trees. The Bellagio and the Wynn properties maintain high standards for horticulture and landscape design. The Bellagio has an indoor garden that they change several times a year.
Town Square, a new open air shopping center on the south Strip, is also worth seeing, IMO. Downtown, check out the streets they rebuilt for the new BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) line along with the stations. They incorporated old neon signs into the streetscape.

[Mark Sanford]

Visit The Aria hotel and casino.. The landscape Budget was 45 million installed by Valley Crest. Just way over the top….. but so is everything in in Vegas

[Adam Trujillo]

If you are looking for something off the beaten path then the Las Vegas Wash is a great place to do some outdoor hiking (granted if its not too hot) The Las Vegas Wash has been degrading for over the past 20 years because of the intense amount of development. However, the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee has been making amazing efforts to revitalize the natural habitat and water flows of the wash. Its pretty amazing to see that much water flowing in the midst of desert and paving. Its about a 15 minute drive away from the strip and its a nice for some morning exercise and to see what Las Vegas is doing for the natural environment as well.

here’s the link for more info.

http://www.lvwash.org/html/

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