Week 2: The Feeling of Vegas, Baby

Ah Paris... Oops I mean Las Vegas. During our (Kelsey, Tanya and I) visit to Las Vegas, we stayed at the Paris Hotel--and boy was it just filled with interesting lighting! From the moment we got there, we were able to see that the outdoor lighting really hit you with their brand-PARIS. We arrived at night, so that was awesome to see how the different hotels each used light to both attract people into their casinos and give customers a taste of who they are as casino. Above is a picture of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. The structure was lit from the inside, high lighting the intricate architecture of the structure. What they ended up successfully doing, as you can see here, is making the tower look like it was glowing. This structure looks totally different during the day, and I think the night lights really make the impact this casino is looking for. This wasn't the only hotel that did this wonderfully; others such as the Bellagio, the Flamingo and Caesar's Palace really used lighting to high light the architecture and show the customers their brand.

Once you set foot into these casinos, it's a different animal of lighting. Some were definitely more successful than others, like Paris. The Paris hotel has high ceilings and a sky scape on the ceiling as well. It also has a lot of character lighting, as you can see in the picture to the right. The light poles definitely add light for people to walk around in, but also fit the theme of the casino. The ceiling also utilizes lights that are hidden to high light the sky. The lighting in this casino was pretty darn successful--I distinctly remember my roommate saying "It feels so open in here!" all the time, and I believe this is both due to the high ceilings, but also to the care they took in lighting it appropriately. On the flip side, while Caesar's Palace is lit wonderfully outside, my friends and I felt super claustrophobic, and I believe this is partially due to the really dim lighting they have inside their casino.

Overall, this trip was very interesting as far as lighting for individual casino's goes. I believe that casino's that take more care in lighting both the inside and outside definitely make their customers feel more welcome. But people will always want gamble anyways, so there's that.