ABSTRACT
Our work on the project Vegas 888 in Las Vegas (2006) exemplifies the opportunities of this method of work at the level of representation, especially given that the value of the project was coincident with its value as image. At the suggestion of the marketing company, dbox, we were hired by the client mid-way through the design development phase to re-examine the façade, design a large spa on the 38th and 39th floors, and revise selected public areas. Effectively limited to the transformation and thickening of the building’s curtain wall – appropriately doing a skin job in Las Vegas – and given a very tight deadline, required us to work quickly at first through line work and hand sketches to tease out options and alternatives (figure 15.1). As the project developed, initial studies were fleshed out through hybrid representations, with digitally generated color studies serving as a critical means of work (figure 15.2). Ultimately, our final drawings, constructed through overdrawing economical digital models were the necessary vehicle for translating design ideas to dbox, who executed the necessary photorealistic renderings for the marketing and branding campaign of this luxury 50-storey condominium in the desert (figure 15.3).
