Las Vegas City Hall

Las Vegas, Nevada

In a City like Las Vegas, where each new building tries to outdo the last, creating a facility that’s both distinctive and dignified that reflects the richly diverse citizenry, presented an exciting design challenge.

JMA Architects, a variable interest entity of Michael Baker International, designed the new seven-story, 310,000-square-foot building to meet the City’s design requirements and provide efficient administrative and operational space. The building design tells the story of the City’s history and highlights the vital role of energy resources to shape the City’s future.

Honoring its early inhabitants, the Paiute tribe, the City Council Chamber’s curvilinear form references ancient mounds created by underground springs that first attracted the tribe to the area. An image of stratified canyon walls on the building façades references the Hoover Dam, a major power source today; glass fins on the main façade depict the Colorado River cascading down the dam walls. Rays shooting across the east-wing façade visually represent the sun.

The new LEED Gold building optimizes energy use, achieving 35% savings above the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards, through careful selection of exterior materials to help reduce solar heat gain and the heat-island effect. Abstract shade “trees” on the plaza incorporate photovoltaic panels to further reduce the building’s energy demand. Altogether, these green building elements have cut annual energy costs by more than $500,000 and reduced the facility’s carbon footprint by 2,348 metric tons. The new City Hall also incorporates various sustainable technologies to reduce water usage and control stormwater.