Learning from Las Vegas - Setting the scene with light from ERCO: the spectacular extension of the Las Vegas Convention Centre

Holding your own in Las Vegas among the bombastic, glitzy casino and entertainment buildings is a challenge. At the end of 2021 the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre (LVCC), designed by TSK Architects, opened near the legendary entertainment strip in the US desert city. The growth-oriented extension adds an impressive 130,000 m² to the LVCC, one of the largest event and congress buildings in the world. Each year 6.5 million trade show visitors are drawn to Las Vegas, and the trend is rising. The lighting design by CM Kling + Associates from Washington played a central role in presenting and displaying the enormous extension building, both functionally and aesthetically. With ERCO, the lighting designers found an ideal partner to implement all aspects of the complex large-scale project.

Uniform lighting conditions

ERCO luminaires were used in almost every area, including outdoors, the exhibition halls, connecting corridors and hallways. Uniform lighting conditions were thus installed throughout the building. The harmonious lighting creates orientation and a harmonious sense of space for trade show visitors in the large-scale building, whilst also accentuating the architecture: lighting designer David Ghatan of CM Kling + Associates sums up the implemented lighting as "championing the architecture".

Modern and fit for the future

A characteristic exterior feature of the innovative West Hall architecture is the roof spanning the entire new building. Its dazzling white coating alone, reflecting the desert sun, makes it impossible to miss. Its curved silhouette echoes the nearby mountain range of the Spring Mountains. As such, the construction unmistakably stands out in the Las Vegas skyline as the new architectural trademark of the LVCC. It is accentuated by more than 300 Kona outdoor projectors from ERCO installed on the roof structure and masts. Extensive mounting accessories enable Kona to be flexibly installed. Each projector is individually aligned via pan-and-tilt mounting plates to precisely accentuate all nuances of the architecture.

Open-air atmosphere

The curved roof construction reaches its climax in the spectacular West Hall entrance: a 36 metre-high arched vault constructed of glass and steel spans the daylight-flooded entrance atrium. This is the so-called Grand Lobby with an open glazed facade facing Paradise Road. Projecting far out, the roof creates a generously dimensioned forecourt. Kona projectors installed in the outdoor space and in the entrance atrium achieve uniform lighting conditions between indoors and outdoors, and visual architectural axes and viewing angles are simultaneously accentuated. Here, too, each Kona projector has been individually aligned.

Daylight according to needs

DALI-controlled lighting is essential in almost all areas of the extension, says David Ghatan. It is thus possible to react ideally to artificial light and daylight conditions and also balance out contrasts. This is because the large extension building multiply opens up to daylight – apart from the central exhibition hall with space of 30,472 m², the largest column-free hall in North America. A total of 14 integrated, flexible 'skyfold walls' can be raised so that daylight can enter the meeting rooms and smaller exhibition spaces according to needs.

An inviting quality of stay

In the connecting corridors and hallways, 300 ERCO Compar downlights provide good orientation and high visual comfort. Compar's anti-dazzle louvre limits the view into the luminaire, achieving maximum visual comfort even with a beam angle of 90°. The luminaires are complemented by 150 ERCO Compar wallwashers which achieve a high impression of brightness via uniform illumination of the walls. 1,400 ERCO Parscan spotlights have also been installed. Mounted in ceiling channels, the luminaires in minimalist design blend inconspicuously into the architecture. The ceiling channels are at right angles to the direction of movement, making the extensive corridors appear clearly arranged, scaled to a manageable size and with an invitingly pleasant quality of stay.

As a refreshingly new type of trade show construction, the West Hall has already established itself in colourful and dazzling downtown Las Vegas. It's also already received a nickname alluding to the white roof protecting against the desert heat: "snow cone", the ice cream classic traditionally served in a white paper cone in the USA.

Project data

Project: Las Vegas Convention Centre, Las Vegas / USA
Architecture: TSK Architects, Henderson, Nevada / USA
Lighting concept: CM Kling + Associates, Alexandria, Virginia / USA
Photography: Ryan Linton, Colorado / USA
Products: Compar, Kona, Parscan
Photo credits: © ERCO GmbH, www.erco.com, Photography: Ryan Linton