Las Vegas
Well, I have never been to Las Vegas itself or Reno "The Biggest Little City in the World". However, I think Vegas is one of those things that you do not have to go to know what it is all about. At the end of the day seeing is the believing!
“We are living in the most decadent society that has been in the history since the Roman Time”.
(“Virtual Las Vegas” Documentary on C4-1995)
Las Vegas is a unique triumph on its own, nothing has ever been built like it or experienced like it. In my opinion it is an adult fantasy city, a 20th century “Sodom & Gomorrah”, and a sin city that anything happens or can happen. Nevertheless that does not finish there; I would say it is the only city in the world that has been built based on human psychology, technology, as well as, how one can be controlled by one’s mind and manipulated. The psychology of gambling has a great impact on the design of the casinos, that is;
Never have any windows
Never let anybody know whether it is day or night, because if the gamblers start to see the sunrise,
they get pretty uneasy that they get home and get some sleep.
Never have a clock in the casino
Never make it as a separate room that you go in to or go out off. It is simply in the public space.
You become a prisoner of your own greed with your own wishes!
Also the signs are playing a big role in the human psychology as the casino operators discovered. The rule of thumb is; more action on the sign, the brighter the sign the more people become excited and want to have fun and gamble. As a friend once told me, “when you enter the city, there is so much light that makes you want to search all your pockets for money and spent whatever you got on you, just to be part of the excitement”.
The colours in the animations in the signs, as Tom Wolfe says “Right here in the middle of the desert, American architecture was developing a whole new art form”.
You can look at the Las Vegas from miles away on route 91 and see no buildings, no trees only signs but such a signs, they revolve, they oscillate “the sour in shape before the existing vocabulary of art history is helpless”. The architecture of Las Vegas relates to “Disney World” rather directly. This extraordinary performance architecture thought is something that Las Vegas has gone beyond Disney world, it is an arm race of architecture one stage further, it is “Disney part III” combined with gambling.
In my opinion however, Las Vegas pays for its sin that is the beautiful face of it.
Legalised gambling legislation was designed to raise needed taxes for public schools. Today, more than 43% of the state general fund is fed by gambling tax revenue and more than 34% of the state's general fund is pumped into public education.
Legalised gambling returned to Nevada during the Great Depression. It legitimized a small but profitable industry. That same year construction started on the Hoover Dam Project which, at its peak, employed 5,128 people, and this is just small portion of examples
Well, I have never been to Las Vegas itself or Reno "The Biggest Little City in the World". However, I think Vegas is one of those things that you do not have to go to know what it is all about. At the end of the day seeing is the believing!
“We are living in the most decadent society that has been in the history since the Roman Time”.
(“Virtual Las Vegas” Documentary on C4-1995)
Las Vegas is a unique triumph on its own, nothing has ever been built like it or experienced like it. In my opinion it is an adult fantasy city, a 20th century “Sodom & Gomorrah”, and a sin city that anything happens or can happen. Nevertheless that does not finish there; I would say it is the only city in the world that has been built based on human psychology, technology, as well as, how one can be controlled by one’s mind and manipulated. The psychology of gambling has a great impact on the design of the casinos, that is;
Never have any windows
Never let anybody know whether it is day or night, because if the gamblers start to see the sunrise,
they get pretty uneasy that they get home and get some sleep.
Never have a clock in the casino
Never make it as a separate room that you go in to or go out off. It is simply in the public space.
You become a prisoner of your own greed with your own wishes!
Also the signs are playing a big role in the human psychology as the casino operators discovered. The rule of thumb is; more action on the sign, the brighter the sign the more people become excited and want to have fun and gamble. As a friend once told me, “when you enter the city, there is so much light that makes you want to search all your pockets for money and spent whatever you got on you, just to be part of the excitement”.
The colours in the animations in the signs, as Tom Wolfe says “Right here in the middle of the desert, American architecture was developing a whole new art form”.
You can look at the Las Vegas from miles away on route 91 and see no buildings, no trees only signs but such a signs, they revolve, they oscillate “the sour in shape before the existing vocabulary of art history is helpless”. The architecture of Las Vegas relates to “Disney World” rather directly. This extraordinary performance architecture thought is something that Las Vegas has gone beyond Disney world, it is an arm race of architecture one stage further, it is “Disney part III” combined with gambling.
In my opinion however, Las Vegas pays for its sin that is the beautiful face of it.
Legalised gambling legislation was designed to raise needed taxes for public schools. Today, more than 43% of the state general fund is fed by gambling tax revenue and more than 34% of the state's general fund is pumped into public education.
Legalised gambling returned to Nevada during the Great Depression. It legitimized a small but profitable industry. That same year construction started on the Hoover Dam Project which, at its peak, employed 5,128 people, and this is just small portion of examples
No comments:
Post a Comment