Steve Wynn is the archetypal Wildcatter, so much so that he’s in our Wildcatter Hall of Fame. We truly admire and appreciate his focus on luxury. The Wynn hotel in Las Vegas is his shining star of all things luxury; from the rooms, the food, the shopping, the service, and even the design. The interior design of the Wynn Hotel is a step above the rest and Steve Wynn, with the help of some key players, used design to reinvent the standard for luxury in Las Vegas hotels.
In 1980, Steve Wynn asked his friend, Roger Thomas, to join the design team for The Mirage hotel. With more than three thousand rooms and a tropical themed design, it was widely well received. The Mirage catapulted the transition of Las Vegas hotels becoming more than just a casino with rooms. Its success sparked their next project, the pirate-themed Treasure Island. This project made them realize that theme design was not their style, which led to the decision to stay far from that. So in 1998, Wynn and Thomas came together again to really break the mold, this time with the opening of the Bellagio. The New Yorker describes Thomas’s major focus on the resort’s interior by saying, “he has reinvented the look of the modern gambling hall by deliberately violating every previously accepted rule of casino design.” With high ceilings and open floor plans, gamblers were more at ease, soon making the Bellagio the standard everyone wanted to repeat. At the time, it was the most expensive hotel in the world at $1.6 billion.
Up next, Steve’s pride and joy, and not to mention, namesake, the Wynn Las Vegas. It is here that one can see how Thomas continued to push further into the interior design game, with no expense spared at the cost of beauty and luxury. Thomas added garden atriums, more natural light, and was the first to put chandeliers above gambling tables. Never an option before, due to the obstruction of security cameras, Thomas found a way to put the camera inside the fixture after 18 months of engineering.
Walking around the Wynn and its sister hotel, Encore, it is hard to miss their attention to detail. It makes you feel special to know the pure passion that went into designing a space that people enjoy. Everywhere you look, there is something unique to see, including fresh flower sculptures and a $28 million Jeff Koons sculpture of Popeye. Don’t forget to look up! The Wynn is full of beautiful ceilings, from large hanging parasols to intricate molding. You won’t be disappointed while walking the loop of the two connecting hotels, seeing art from all over the world integrated into the spacious design. Steve Wynn and Roger Thomas share very sophisticated tastes in luxury and have the knowledge to execute it in a grand fashion, for which we respect.
