Vdara

Vdara Hotel & Spa ( ) is a condo-hotel and spa located within the CityCenter complex across from Aria Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Vdara opened on December 1, 2009 as a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Infinity World Development. It is owned by The Blackstone Group and operated by MGM Resorts International.

Vdara's 57-story, tower houses 1,495 suites; an , two-story spa, salon and fitness center; a market and a bar. It also has a pool and deck area. Vdara does not contain casino space and, along with Waldorf Astoria, is one of two non-gaming, non-smoking hotels within CityCenter. In 2010, it was discovered that the hotel's reflective surface and concave design can act as a parabolic reflector that creates conditions of extremely high temperature at the pool deck.

History

Vdara, designed by Rafael Vinoly of RV Architecture, LLC, is a condo-hotel, located between the Aria Resort & Casino and the Bellagio. Vdara's 57-story tower houses 1,495 units, ranging from 526 to 1,750 sq ft (48.9 to 162.6 m2). The Architect of Record was Leo A. Daly, while the Detroit-based firm Hamilton Anderson Associates was the Architect of Record for the interior guest rooms. Tishman Construction Corporation served as Construction Manager, and Perini Building Company was the project's General Contractor. Vdara was the first tower to open December 1, 2009. Vdara was the first of the six high rises in the project to be topped out on May 14, 2008.

Vdara was the first of six projects to be completed as part of the $8.5 billion CityCenter complex. Vdara's opening on December 1, 2009 was followed by The Crystals, a retail shopping center; Mandarin Oriental and Aria Resort & Casino in the same month. Prior to its opening, Vdara was designated as a LEED Gold award building and received a five-key rating from the Green Key Eco-Rating Program. Designed by Rafael Viñoly of RV Architecture, LLC, Vdara's 57-story crescent-shaped structure is formed by three parallel, offset arcs of varying heights. Because of its staggered arc design, Vdara contains six corner suites per floor, compared to four in a conventional building. The curvature of the building was designed as complementary to the arcs of Aria Resort & Casino, which is located across a shared circular driveway.

In 2021, the real estate assets of the Vdara property were sold by MGM Resorts to the Blackstone Group for $3.89 billion in cash, who will be leasing the property back to MGM for an annual rent of $215 million. The purchase of the land happened concurrently with MGM's takeover of the property from a Dubai World subsidy, named Infinity World Development, previously owning 50% in CityCenter.

Facilities

Art

Artwork is incorporated into Vdara's interior and exterior design. Nancy Rubin's canoe sculpture ''Big Edge'' is displayed at the entrance of the hotel and an painting by Frank Stella hangs above the registration desk in the lobby.

Suites

Vdara contains 1,495 suites which include studios, deluxe studios, one- and two-bedroom suites and one- and two-bedroom penthouses. The units range from in size and contain a kitchen as well as a washing machine and dryer.

The suites at Vdara are sold as private residences and owners have the option to participate in a rental program to lease their condos as hotel rooms when they are not residing there. The unsold pool of condos are structured as permanent hotel rooms managed by MGM Resorts International.

Attractions

An two-story spa and salon called Spa & Salon Vdara is made up of 11 private treatment rooms, a sauna, a steam room, co-ed lounges, a full service salon, a fitness center and a smoothie/coffee bar. Pool & Lounge Vdara covers and has 19 private cabanas.

A market called Market Cafe Vdara opened on March 1, 2011, just before Vdara's only restaurant, Silk Road, closed on March 8, 2011. Vdara's only bar, Vice Versa, is also located in the lobby and contains inside and outside seating overlooking CityCenter. Vdara has approximately of meeting space that includes a ballroom and three breakout rooms, one of which is a 14-person board room.

Solar convergence

In 2010, it was established that the building's reflective surface and concave design can act as a collecting mirror. The parallel incoming radiation from the sun is partially reflected and focuses in one dimension to a still one-dimensional vertical line that lies about f = 50 m in front of the facade and hits the ground.

The reflected rays of the sun create dangerous conditions of extremely high temperature at the pool deck. Hotel employees as well as local news outlets have taken to calling this phenomenon the "death ray," with the management describing it as a "solar convergence". Vdara management has considered various solutions but the challenge in overcoming the structural design problem is that the sun and its reflection are targets that constantly move during the day and as every season progresses. In the meantime, management has installed large blue umbrellas over the pool deck to protect bathers,The 'death ray hotel' burning Las Vegas visitors came up with a simple fix
by Leanna Garfield, ''Business Insider'', 30 June 2016 while the hotel's glass exterior has been covered with non-reflective film."'darawas a completely different problem,' said Viñoly, insisting he was following a masterplan that specified arc-shaped towers. 'We pointed out that would be an issue too, but who cares if you fry somebody in Las Vegas, right?'" : from
Walkie Talkie architect 'didn't realise it was going to be so hot'
by Oliver Wainwright, ''The Guardian'', 6 September 2013

The architect who designed Vdara, Rafael Viñoly, also designed the "Walkie-Talkie" skyscraper in London, built in 2013, which has been dubbed the "Walkie-Scorchie" and "Fryscraper" due to a similar, sun-reflecting and scorching problem.From the Walkie Talkie to the Death Ray Hotel: buildings turn up the heat
by Jon Henley, ''The Guardian'', 3 September 2013

See also

* List of tallest buildings in Las Vegas

References

External links

*

{{MGM Resorts International

2009 establishments in Nevada
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certified buildings
Hotel buildings completed in 2009
Hotels established in 2009
Las Vegas Strip
MGM Resorts International
Residential buildings in the Las Vegas metropolitan area
Skyscraper hotels in Paradise, Nevada
2021 mergers and acquisitions