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Rafael Viñoly's Vdara hotel and spa opened yesterday in Las Vegas, part of the new 67-acre CityCenter urban resort development.

CityCenter comprises six schemes by internationally renowned architects. All six are now complete, with Viñoly's the first to officially open.

The other elements include:

• ARIA, a resort and casino by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
• Crystals, a retail, dining and entertainment district by Studio Daniel Libeskind
• Veer Towers, twinned residential towers by Helmut Jahn
• Mandarin Oriental, a hotel and residences by Kohn Pedersen Fox
• the Harmon Hotel, by Foster + Partners.

The CityCenter resort on the Las Vegas Strip is being developed by MGM MIRAGE and Infinity World Development Corp, a subsidiary of Dubai World, with a masterplan by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects.

Viñoly's 57-storey, crescent-shaped hotel features three parallel, offset arcs rising to varying heights. The horizontally striped facade comprises alternating bands of reflective vision glass and light-diffusing, acid-etched spandrel glass in black and white, set on different planes to achieve a shimmering texture.

The 1.6m sq ft building includes a curved pool deck located over Harmon Circle, a two-level health and beauty spa, salon and fitness centre, a conference centre, and a subdivisible ballroom.

The hotel's 1,495 suites are wider and shallower than most hotel suites, to maximise views and daylight penetration. The three-arc floor plan also allows six corner rooms rather than four per floor.

In keeping with the sustainable focus of the overall CityCenter development of which it is a part, Vdara meets the LEED Gold certification level.

Sustainable features include ecologically friendly construction materials, the use of light-coloured surfaces on the pool deck and roof to reduce the urban heat island effect, and measures to reduce water consumption such as low-flow plumbing fixtures and water-efficient, native landscaping.

Credit: MGM