The new exhibit at UNLV’s Barrick Museum features two decades of award-winning architectural design in Nevada, highlighting works built and unbuilt. But more than that, it offers a glimpse into the creative process and decision-making that led to familiar landmarks dotting the landscape.
From residential properties and corporate offices to cultural centers and James Turrell’s art installation at City Center’s Louis Vuitton store, Reflecting and Projecting: 20 Years of Design Excellence showcases diversity of endeavor, style and statement. Images depict Penn Jillette’s residence; “The Slammer” designed by Carpenter Sellers Del Gatto Architects (AIA Las Vegas award in 1996); as well as 2013 winners, including McCarran International Airport Terminal Three designed by PGAL (Merit Award in Architecture) and Turrell’s “AKHOB,” a two-chamber light-based experience that received the Merit Award in Collaborative Achievement.
Also included is the evolution of architectural workstations, told in three vignettes: a ’90s-era scenario with renderings on paper piled on a desk with scale-model building materials and a year 2030 workspace with a digital computer that reads and maps visitors’ bodies. There are also fantastic scale models, ranging from a control tower at McCarran to the Springs Preserve Visitor Center and the Mesquite Fine Arts Center.
Presented by the Las Vegas Chapter of AIA in collaboration with the UNLV School of Architecture, Reflecting and Projecting is as much about the process as it is about the end result, making for an intriguing backdrop to AIA Nevada’s Excellence in Design Award-winning projects from 1994-2014.
Reflecting and Projecting: 20 Years of Design Excellence Through February 28; Monday-Wednesday & Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (closed December 25-January 4). Barrick Museum, 702-895-3381.