SpaceQuest Casino - Las Vegas, NV (1998)
The Cuningham Group / Solberg+Lowe organization working with TSL created this 22,000 sq. ft. futuristic casino in the Las Vegas Hilton hotel Every surface of the casino, which houses 400 slots and eight blackjack tables, was carefully designed to transport guests directly to the 24th century. Highlights in the design include three giant windows, 12 ft. x 25 ft. which “simulate the view of the orbiting Earth, while offering scenes of spacecrafts docking at SpaceQuest.“
There is also a pulsating rocket booster, a docked flying saucer above the StarQuest bar, crackling bunched tubes of neon and space related mechanical apparatus bulging out from the wall surfaces. A glowing path of glass pavers, illuminated by a series of changing colored lights, runs the length of the casino. Bundles of fiber optic cables, on the walls and ceiling, create myriad lighting effects that add to the out-in-space experience. The fiber optic designs also twinkle like orbiting galaxies on the surface of the roulette tables. The SpaceQuest logo is "painted” with a rainbow of fiber optics piercing the black felt of the blackjack tables.
SpaceQuest’s designers used high tech materials, sophisticated audio effects and breathtaking visual technology to “establish an immersive and realistic space age environment.” Stage and movie specialists worked closely with the architects/designers to create the sensational effects visible throughout the casino. The giant space windows, previously mentioned, are actually colossal rear projection theater screens and the images are coordinated on the three screens to produce the illusion that the casino and the patrons in it are all in orbit. Spaceship arrivals and departures are announced over the PA system to further the illusion. SpaceQuest is only one part of a two part space extravaganza at the Las Vegas Hilton. The gaming casino is free for all to enter but beyond at the end of the colorfully illuminated glass block path is Star Trek: The Experience. Here an admission is charged for the entertainment/ motion simulation ride complex which is based on the TV series and the Hollywood films of Star Trek.”
Designed by Paramount Parks, Landmark Entertainment Group & The Cuningham Group
Scanned from ‘Entertainment Destinations’ by Martin Pegler (2000)
