Visiting Las Vegas this year? Area has you covered. This week we give you all the tasteful alternatives for sleeping, eating (Wednesday) and relaxing (Friday) in Sin City. Enjoy.
Las Vegas has tried many postures since its inception as a gambling haven for vacationing mobsters. In recent memory, there's been the attempt at family fun destination, the backlash to that cleaned up world, and the inevitable backlash to the backlash.
Now, CityCenter, the latest addition to the Strip, is looking to earn some highbrow cred with world-renowned architects, serious public art and high-end dining. All this in 8 million square feet, with only a hundred and fifty thousand devoted to gaming. Will this be the harbinger of a new Vegas? Time will tell, but for now at least you can assuage some of your Sin City guilt with a bit of culture.
CityCenter's main hotel is Aria, the 4,004 room monolith that contains the gaming and the majority of the restaurants of CityCenter. Check in takes place under Maya Lin's "Silver River" a reclaimed silver sculpture of the Colorado River done to scale. Venture downstairs and check out Jenny Holzer's large-scale LED installation "Vegas" that scrolls through some of her "Truisms".
Vdara, is a Rafael Vinoly designed boutique hotel just across a traffic circle from Aria. Nancy Rubin's Big Edge, a sculpture of recycled canoes, dominates the space between the hotels. The check-in here boasts Frank Stella's Damascus Gate Variation 1, and Peter Wegner's "Day for Night, Night for Day" flanks the concierge lobby.
The Mandarin Oriental is also just a short walk from Aria (through Crystals the Daniel Libeskind designed shopping mall). Be sure to check out Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen's "Typewriter Eraser, Scale X" as you make your way over. The Zen meditation music piped through the entrance sets the tone in this Adam Tihany designed hotel. If you desire a respite from the flash of Vegas, this is the place to stay.
