DESIGN CONNECTION

With so much press being given to MGM-Mirage Corporation’s CityCenter, many of us may have lost sight of what’s been happening these past months at the ever-expanding downtown World Market Center.

This summer’s Las Vegas Market for retail storeowners, buyers, and interested designers is set to begin July 28 and will run through August 1. And there’s little doubt in anyone’s mind that the opening of Building C—the third state-of-the-art building to be added to the World Market campus—will be a remarkable event for Las Vegas and the furniture industry in general.

With the opening of Building C, an impressive 2.1 million square feet (encompassing 16 stories) of exciting new showrooms will be added to significantly increase the number of resources available to designers in our city and elsewhere. Now, with this latest addition, the World Market will total more than five million square feet of exhibitors—which is even more square footage than the world famous Sears Tower in Chicago; and in fact, with this expansion, I am told, it will exceed the size of any trade merchandise mart in the United States. That’s quite an accomplishment in just a few short years.

I might point out here, that when fully built, at 12 million square feet in eight buildings, World Market Center will be the largest trade show complex in the world. (This just keeps getting better and better.) Building C already helps to make it “the epitome of cutting-edge convenience;” and it’s even being said by those in the know that the C actually stands for cutting-edge convenience.

In any case, following are a few fun facts about this latest monolith that should go far in impressing even the most blasé casual observers of the Las Vegas scene:

• 72,000 cubic yards of concrete have been used for Building C.
  There will be 9 miles of rubber base along the edge of the carpet.
• The exterior skin on the building is 500,000 square feet of exterior surface.
• It would take nearly 330 average-size adults holding hands to wrap
  around the base of Building C.
• Building C will include 34 escalators and 16 elevators.
• Building C would need 10 football fields to completely cover the
  building in grass.
• In the adjacent parking garage (yes, finally, there will be a real
  garage in which to park), also scheduled for completion in
  time for Market, is 60,000 cubic yards of concrete and will cover
  1.2 million square feet.

Getting the picture yet? This is one unforgettable structure that will allow, for the first time ever, three highly acclaimed showcases that have taken place in other locations such as the MGM and Mandalay Bay before, but will now be able to be seen entirely on the World Market campus.

The first showcase is called ConText and is the premier showcase for home textiles and bedding. The second is Design & Living which will feature favorite innovators as well as previously unseen talent in various styles, from traditional to contemporary, for a total of over 100 hand-picked companies. And the third showcase, at over 12,000 square feet, the Living Green Pavilion will no doubt be an attraction in and of itself, housed in its own premium glass-enclosed showroom on the fifth floor of Building C.

This showcase celebrates its third return to Market as it “educates and delights buyers with sustainable furnishings or furniture using wood, cushioning, fabrics and materials that can be renewed through natural processes over a prolonged period of time.”

The Living Green Pavilion is said to be this country’s largest and most comprehensive venue of its kind, showcasing the best in fashionable, accessible, and sustainable furnishings for the mainstream market. All products shown will be verified sustainable.

And so you can see with the addition of these three incredible showcases to the opening of Building C, there will be nothing less than an amazing mix of products available, from bedding lines, to furniture and decorative accessories, from rugs to home textiles and so much more—and all in one beautiful and amazing single location.

Building C has been designed by the Jerde Partnership with floors conveniently grouped by product categories, and sky bridges at all levels that will connect Buildings B and C and ultimately to the new parking structure. The sky bridge from Building A to B, of course, remains in use, so there’s never a need to venture outside and deal with the weather.

As a final note, my sources tell me that soon after the Summer Market, preparations will begin to move all Las Vegas Design Center tenants out of Building B and into Building C to join such industry luminaries as Lexington, Mohawk, Pacific Cost Lighting and Robert Allen Textiles with their new 30,000-square-foot showroom.

Building B will be kept dark—as is the custom at Highpoint, North Carolina—to be opened only twice a year for the summer and winter markets. Building A will continue as before with the first and second floors as permanent showrooms, open year-round, as part of the Las Vegas Design Center.

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Stephen Leon is president of Soleil Design Intl. Inc. and has been designing and manufacturing custom furniture and cabinetry for more than 25 years, along with his accomplishments in interior design. He has served on the board of directors of the Central California/Nevada Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. Stephen can be contacted at soleildesign@cox.net.