architecture and design - Urban Planning and Design

A view of the Ring, an education center of information and communication at the heart of the new Cashman Battery. Image © Gensler

It’s an exciting time in Las Vegas! Not many cities can say they have a solid business foundation, an abundance of land, and an appetite for growth—but Las Vegas can. And with this desire for growth and development increasing by the day, our city leaders have taken it upon themselves to chart a course to the future.

The City of Las Vegas recently launched of the SC2 Design Competition (Strong Cities Strong Communities). In doing so, the City placed a large bet on its number one attribute: the talented and passionate people of Las Vegas. SC2 is a design challenge whose goal is “to procure highly innovative, creative, and transformational economic development ideas for Las Vegas from qualified multidisciplinary teams in Nevada and throughout the world.” And while the competition is far from over, it has already stimulated significant thinking about the future of Las Vegas, cultivated creative ideas regarding future development, and expanded the sphere of what’s possible.

By combining the maverick spirit intrinsic to Las Vegas with the natural assets of the surrounding desert, SC2 demonstrates what can be achieved through solutions that combine innovative design and sound economic planning. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to throw our hat in the ring, Gensler Las Vegas has proposed the Cashman Battery, a plan that combines the lifestyle excess associated with the city and available resources into a wonderful canvas capable of showcasing our city’s beauty and the interplay between the man-made and natural elements.

The Cashman Battery. Image © Gensler

The Cashman Battery concept creates a campus of generative and sustainable buildings. Located more than a half mile north of the tourist center of downtown Las Vegas, the re-envisioned campus will function as a community builder, workplace innovator, and climate responder, and it will be composed of net-zero buildings powered by the repurposed Cashman Center.

These net-zero buildings will set the standard for renewable energy usage in our city and become the testing ground for future innovations and discoveries that will help set future standards for the building industry. The Cashman Battery proposal calls for the development of a new business and innovation center to meet our city’s need to reduce overall environmental impact and develop partnerships with sustainable businesses, research programs, out¬reach centers, incubator spaces, and most importantly, an education center of information and communication at the heart of the new Cashman Battery which we call “The Ring.”

With sustainability at the core of the vision, the development will feature over 900,000 square feet of rooftop photovoltaic panels, solar paving and solar fabrics, and a series of actual batteries to harness the natural assets of solar and wind power to fuel the campus and surrounding neighborhoods. This solution to energy development will stand as a catalyst for development and a stimulation for the economy, while adding vibrancy to an underutilized section of downtown Las Vegas.

The Cashman Battery will track energy consumption and generation through building systems that can be evaluated and re-calibrated to increase efficiencies. In The Battery a new exterior skin will become a visual meter, glowing in an array of colors depending upon the level of energy consumption and generation the building is recording, thus elevating the awareness of building systems that are typically concealed from public view and not brought to the forefront as drivers of innovation.

The master plan also features three districts with very diverse programs and a state of the arts transportation hub.

The Entertainment District connects the center of the development to Las Vegas Boulevard, where new food and beverage and retail venues connect to the city’s Cultural Corridor, and a new community theater will anchor a future Museum Row.
A sculpted, landscaped terrain raises up out of the Sports District, where two levels of new retail and food and beverage venues overlook the existing baseball field.
In efforts to breakdown the surrounding neighborhood barriers and integrate the local community, the Community District encompasses an array of residential building types that populate the perimeter of the Ring where residents can live and work on the site.

Finally, the state of the art Transportation Hub features a potential fixed guideway station, a bicycle facility including storage and repair and ample curb space for shuttle service and carpool drop off. Moreover, the proximity of housing the development reduces the reliance on cars and opens the door to alternative modes of transportation such as bicycles and walking.

Integrating into the community by providing a balanced mixed-use facility, the Cashman Battery will stitch together neighborhoods through a holistic approach to renewable energy. By bringing in innovation, entertainment, learning, transportation hub, residential and office components, the Cashman Battery activates the site, attracts visitors, improves the workforce, and galvanizes a community. It creates an innovative center of employment, commerce and education, raising the standard of living for all residents.