If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and show them how to do it in style! The Fashion Show, already the largest retail center in Las Vegas, is going to be bigger, brighter, and better than ever, thanks to Los Angeles-based Altoon + Porter, working in conjunction with Baltimore's MONK llc and LA's Orne + Associates Inc.

The Rouse Company, the project developer, hired the architects to double the existing complex, to the tune of 1.9 million square feet and $350 million. The developer aims to "create a consumer haven that will lure fashion, entertainment, architecture, and technology seekers from around the world."

The project, to be completed next year, boasts not one, not two, but eight anchor stores—Bloomingdale's, Dillards, Lord and Taylor, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Robinsons-May, and Saks Fifth Avenue—plus luxury boutiques and every kind of restaurant imaginable. A 700-foot-long Great Hall with an 80-foot, retractable hydraulic runaway gives the project its persona and a major function-the fashion show.

The architectural heart of the project, however, is a heavenly element known as "the Cloud." Hovering 180 feet above the complex, the 600-foot-long Cloud is a canopy structure on which outside fashion shows from around the world will be broadcast in real time. Playing visual backup to the Cloud are a huge Tri-vision wall that projects images (either a single large image or multiple smaller images) to the plaza directly outside, and a gargantuan LED screen topping a grand staircase.

The Fashion Show will boast high-end materials and design, plus something rare for Las Vegas entertainment architecture: natural light. A three-story-tall atrium in the center Fashion Center will bring light to the space via clerestory windows. "This is both a challenging and exciting project to oversee because we are creating a visual adventure that will set a world precedent for the shopping experience," says partner Ronald A. Altoon, FAIA. "We feel that the Fashion Show, with its state-of-the-art, interactive entertainment, along with its never-ending choice of department stores and luxury retailers, will set a similar standard as a high-tech, artistic convergence of fashion, music, television, and movies."

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.