Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn - 2014 - Issue 1 - Spring+Summer

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

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photography by barbara kraft E ven those who have walked the footprint of Wynn and Encore many times encoun- ter moments of delicious discovery. Wander through the sun-dappled high- limit slot salon at Wynn, for instance, and your eye is drawn to a brilliant orange lotus fountain. Hidden nearby is the porte cochere of Wynn's south valet. A short walk away, inside a monumental mountain covered with Aleppo pines, a waterfall flows into a calm koi pond, and a private pagoda table seems to float in a tranquil lagoon, transporting you to the magical version of Japan that is Mizumi restaurant. A walk down the corridor by The Country Club offers an even qui- eter moment of contemplation in front of a 1925 silk tapestry by French artist Raoul Dufy. For those accustomed to the full-frontal excess they encounter on most of the Strip, these private vignettes come as both a surprise and sweet relief. In fact, they are quite purpose- ful, explains Steve Wynn, who after decades of mastering the grand entrance turned the idea on its head, providing guests a great escape from that very thing. Imagine Las Vegas in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, he suggests, when hoteliers expanded their 500-room properties by adding high-rise towers, keeping public areas much the same. During the 1980s and '90s, megaresorts were in full swing, designed along the model of the earliest hotels, only bigger. And, Wynn explains, "Human scale went out the window," lost in the imperative of offering more and more choices. "Distances to travel became longer, and as the casinos sur- rounded them with food and bars in classic tradition, the spaces became vast." Of course, there was a real reason to increase the size of hotels, as ever-more-discriminating guests wanted more choices in entertainment and dining. Therein lay the tension for which Wynn would spend years seeking creative solutions: how to resolve the competing goals of choice and size without sacrificing either—and offering the intimacy of a boutique hotel on top of it all. Wynn set a new standard in Vegas resorts when he built the 3,044-room Mirage—the most expensive hotel-casino in history when it opened in 1989. It was here, Wynn says, that he encountered the scale problem at its most vexing. "I used tricks," he explains. "I put in an atrium and chevroned the casino around it; I hid it with trees so that by the time you walked from top: The newly redesigned Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, with its sparkling atrium fish chandelier and patterned stone floor, is lively and convivial; Steve Wynn. 36 Wynn STEVE Wynn 034-040_Wynn_FOB_Steve_Spring14.indd 36 5/15/14 3:42 PM

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