Las Vegas Design Center at World Market Center Las Vegas, in conjunction with the El Cortez Hotel & Casino, successfully completed a one-of-a-kind design competition in which local Nevada interior designers remodeled four luxury suites at the nearly 70-year-old historic downtown hotel casino.
The objective of the “Design A Suite Downtown” competition was to engage the local design community while setting a new design standard for the legendary suites at El Cortez Hotel & Casino, a property once owned by Bugsy Siegel.
The competition kicked-off last summer with a total of 22 design submissions. Eventually, the field was narrowed to four finalists who had the opportunity to bring their creativity to life and build out their suite. Each finalist was given a $22,000 budget to purchase furnishings and decor from the showrooms at the Las Vegas Design Center at World Market Center Las Vegas.
Tina Enard of Urban Design Studios was named the winner of the competition for her innovative design tribute to vintage Vegas. Her suite, aptly named ‘The Big Sleep,’ featured retro furnishings and a wall-to-wall photo mural of the dry, parched Southern Nevada desert – a tongue-in-cheek nod to the oft reputed ‘resting ground’ of mob enemies. As the winner, Enard now has the opportunity to remodel six additional suites that will be unveiled during the hotel casino’s 70th anniversary celebration in 2011.
"This competition generated considerable interest from the local design community eager to put their creativity to work in a fun, engaging and useful way,” said Randy Wells, vice president of Las Vegas Design Center. “It was also the perfect venue to celebrate the rich history of downtown Las Vegas as demonstrated by the creative executions of all four finalist teams. With a variety of showrooms, Las Vegas Design Center was the ideal partner to support this initiative. We enjoyed working with the management team at the El Cortez, and applaud them for their visionary approach.
According to Alexandra Epstein, executive manager of El Cortez, “the partnership with Las Vegas Design Center has been tremendously beneficial. The resounding success of this competition has not only generated significant awareness of our hotel, it has also allowed us to support the community’s most creative designers. We look forward to creating other similar initiatives that engage the community and celebrate our unique history.”