Luxe Life Blog

MGM CityCenter Part 3: Crystals, the restaurants and the artwork

Posted November 18, 2009 • 3:02 p.m.

The Crystals interior by The Rockwell Group, with the grand staircase and Pods by Wolfgang Puck.

Photo: Kirvin Doak Communications

Today is Part 3 of our five-part series on MGM’s CityCenter, opening next month on the Strip. The links to Parts 1 and 2 are at the end of this story.

It’s the first time in my long career of sitting at a typewriter or computer keyboard that I will fail to do justice to the subject at hand. It’s the first time that no words I type will be sufficient to accurately describe the dynamic and vibrant retail and entertainment palace Crystals opening Dec. 3 at the new MGM CityCenter.

I can only say that it is the most breathtaking architecture I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world, and you know I’ve traveled everywhere! I’ve likened it to 100 times more stunning than Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., up from 10 times yesterday! I’ve described it as large enough for McCarran Airport to send over its own air traffic controllers because tourist sightseeing planes could fly right through it with ample space to spare.

It’s more than 500,000 square feet of sophisticated, spectacular shopping and dining. For comparison, just think that the 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. White House measures in at 50,000 square feet.

Credit for the unique and extraordinary eye-popping design goes to Studio Daniel Libeskind, with incredible interiors by David Rockwell and his Rockwell Group. Crystals combines amazing architecture with exclusive offerings from the world’s most elite brands to become a pre-eminent shopping destination. The exterior was conceived as a dynamic sculpture in itself that presents a work of art from every angle. The multi-faceted, brilliant glass canopy resembles the intricate beauty of a quartz crystal with an abundance of natural light flowing into a dazzling three-level, 23rd Century environment. David inspirationally then turned the interior into an abstract 21st Century park celebrating nature and the four seasons.

A central element is the three-story sculptural tree house that reaches 70 feet from the ground level to frame the eye of the roof. The tree house can be seen from anywhere you stand inside Crystals and unfolds on the second level to surround the terrace seating at Mastro’s Ocean Club. This extraordinary retail attraction also features “changeable artwork” with hanging gardens and flower carpets. As the seasons change, so does the artwork surrounded by murals and water features.

The two that I’m raving about are the ever-changing colors of a glass-enclosed cylindrical hurricane dubbed “Twister” and the ice glacier of ever-shifting melting and reborn reformed ice sculptures near the main front entrance. The imaginative genius of the water engineers at WET Technology are responsible for this inspired innovation again unseen anywhere else in the world. WET also has created water walls throughout the exterior and interiors of the resort casino Aria.

The shops at Crystals

Under the multi-faced canopy of permanent brilliance are the super-extravagant stores of luxury’s leaders: Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada, Christian Dior, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co, Mikimoto and Ermenegildo Zegna. Unique retailers opening their first locations in Las Vegas include Tom Ford, Assouline, Kiton, Miu Miu, Paul Smith, Porsche Design, de Grisogono, H. Stern, Marni and Boutique Tourbillon. These are no ordinary stores: These are the new world giants and flagships of their fleets around the world. If you are staggered by the stupefying size of Crystals, then this unparalleled league of luxury shops will finish blowing you away! It truly is the world’s No. 1 premiere shopping experience.

Artist Dale Chihuly has his own 4,350-square-foot exhibition space showcasing his sculptures, drawings, prints and limited editions. You know Dale not just because his works have been exhibited in major museums around the world, but also because of his extraordinary iconic piece in the lobby of the Bellagio: Fiori di Como, a dazzling, massive, 3-D glass-blown sculpture of flowers in bloom. Many of his works will be on display alongside his new Silvered Venetian series, where he uses silver for the first time as a base color.

The restaurants in Crystals include Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria Parker’s Beso and her executive chef partner Todd English’s English Pub. In addition to Mastro’s Ocean Club, Wolfgang Puck will open two innovative restaurant concepts, including a contemporary interpretation of a traditional French brasserie with tastes of the Mediterranean region. Check out his restaurant Pods because of the unusual shape and styling of the dining locations on the half floor above the ground level and entranceway. Every restaurant has patio seating. Other luxury brands and restaurants will be announced later.

CityCenter’s artwork

With the high caliber of artwork at City Center, MGM has demonstrated its desire to create a cultural centerpiece for Las Vegas. Closing in on $50 million in acquisitions, it is the first major permanent collection to be integrated into a public space and one of the world’s largest and most ambitious corporate art collections in existence.

It validates CityCenter as a new cultural destination of worldwide significance.

Think of it all as if you were strolling through a museum, a gallery where you will come across works of world-renowned artists as you move through the walkways, hotels and shopping entertainment arcade. From the intimate and serene to the vibrant and ornate, it all begins in the park between Aria and Crystals, with Henry Moore’s Reclining Connected Forms, 1969-1974, a sculpture measuring 10 feet tall and 17 feet long by 7 feet deep. The abstract work displays a baby wrapped in its mother’s embrace. On the Strip near Crystals, CityCenter has acquired three works by French designer-sculptor Francois-Xavier Lalanne, including a large-scale turtle dove crafted from aluminum and wood with a seat carved into its body and wings.

At Aria, artist Maya Lin has created an 84-foot silver cast of the Colorado River, her first work displayed in Las Vegas. Maya’s best-known work is the Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Jenny Holzer will display a thought-provoking LED sign spanning more than 280 feet. Tony Cragg has commissioned three sculptures that examine the relationship between nature and the man-made world. And Antony Gormley will display Feeling Material XXVII, 2007, an 8-foot sculpture that uses spiraling steel to depict the silhouette of a human body at the center of an orbiting energy field.

Across the sweeping circular driveways at Vdara, Nancy Rubins has created one of the most visually stunning commissions at CityCenter with the 57-foot-wide and 75-foot-long Big Edge: a colorful composition of numerous aluminum rowboats, canoes and other small river and ocean vessels finessed into a gravity-defying form that Nancy calls “a blooming flower.” Peter Wegner has commissioned a 45-foot-high solar-themed wall piece titled Sun, 2009, and a 34-foot-high lunar-themed piece titled Moon, 2009. Vdara also acquired Frank Stella’s Damascus Gate Variation I, 1969, which features a design of interlaced semicircles made of fluorescent resin on a 96-by-384-inch canvas.

The Mandarin Oriental will display Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1998-1999, a 19-foot stainless steel and fiberglass sculpture that depicts a giant blue and red typewriter eraser with the bristles of the brush turned upward. In its lobby, the hotel will feature sculptures soaring as high as 11 feet by Jun Kaneko: Untitled, Triangle Dango, 1996; Untitled, Dango, 2002; and Untitled, Dango, 1992. Jack Goldstein’s Untitled (Volcano), 1983, which depicts an explosive and vibrant image of an erupting volcano, also will be displayed in the lobby. The property’s exterior will display Masatoshi Izumi’s sculpture Untitled, 2007-2008, made of large pieces of intricately carved lava that has cooled on the surface of the volcano.

On display at the Veer Towers residential condo towers will be two large-scale, commissioned works by Richard Long. Circle of Life and Earth, Richard’s two mud wall drawings each will measure 80 feet high by 50 feet wide. The “mud” comes from our neighboring Red Rock Mountains.

We are actually now just a little less than two weeks before the first guests check into the Vdara Hotel & Spa on Dec. 1, with the Crystals opening Dec. 3. Just before the doors are opened, you now can sample some of its energy right from your computer. The new, just-launched CityCenter Web site CityCenter.com takes you on an interactive journey, to discover virtually what I’ve been writing about and just why it is destined to forever change the face of the Las Vegas Strip.

Bobby Baldwin, CityCenter’s president, said: “Travelers planning a trip to Las Vegas can visit the site and within moments understand why CityCenter will be the destination of choice on the Las Vegas Strip.” Moving the mouse over the various resort images makes options come alive, while the click of a button pulls viewers in via cinematic fly-throughs. Full-motion, 3-D video treats visitors to a compelling visual tour, providing the sensation of being in the center of it all. Once on a particular resort, a simple click provides users with general information, a link to the hotel’s individual Web site and additional options, including a video exploration highlighting the unique character of each resort and its amenities.

Navigation is user-friendly with no need to back click to continue exploration. Dedicated links take visitors to information regarding CityCenter’s unprecedented public Fine Art Collection and the award-winning architects behind the project. A directory allows users to search by category -- from dining and spa to entertainment, accommodations and shopping -- to discover more about the vast offerings and to help guests plan their visit in advance.

We’ll be back tomorrow with Part 4, our peek inside each one of the resort hotel properties. Friday, we’ll take a look at the architects who made the dream a reality and what’s still to come. We’ve completed our interview today with Eva about Beso and the nightclub Eve at Crystals, and we’ll have that for you early next week.

Click HERE for Part 1 and click HERE for Part 2 of our five-part series posted Monday and yesterday, respectively.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

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