JackpotCity’s Top-5 of Casino Architecture
Take a trip around the world with JackpotCity online casino as we explore incredible casino architecture around the world. We present a selection of casino architectural styles from striking neo-futurist designs to Belle Epoque elegance. In this short article we’ll explore amazing architecture from five of the world’s continents.
Oceania – our own SkyCity Auckland
SkyCity Auckland casino is located in the iconic 328-metre high Sky Tower completed in 1997. The tower itself offers a fabulous panoramic view of Auckland at the top and is home to the world-class SkyCity Casino. The tower was designed by Gordon Moller of CCM Architects and has won several awards for its contemporary design. The structure is made of reinforced concrete with sixteen foundation piles planted twelve metres into the sandstone ground. The structure can withstand winds of over 200 kilometres per hour and is designed to sway up to one metre in high winds (eek)! The building is also designed to withstand earthquakes of 8.0 on the Richter scale. In 2009 the external lighting system at the top of the tower was changed to a LED system, which is 66% more energy efficient than the old metal halide floodlights. This new system can also produce millions of colour combinations for striking effect. The Sky Tower is a prominent feature of the Auckland skyline and has become as familiar a landmark to Aucklanders as the Harbour Bridge, Rangitoto and One Tree Hill. If you’re a thrill seeker you can even jump off the tower or walk around it (also quite terrifying) thanks to AJ Hackett’s Skyjump and Skywalk.
Europe – Casino de Monte Carlo, Monaco
The Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco is one of Europe’s most prestigious casinos and may look familiar to 007 fans! The building’s Belle Epoque architecture was inspired by the fashionable Bad Homburg casino in Hesse, Germany. The casino was designed by a Parisian architect, Gobineau de la Bretonnerie, who also designed the neighbouring Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo. Construction began on 13 May 1858 and the project was completed in 1863. The Monte Carlo casino inspired the fictional resort in Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, published in 1953. Monaco and its casino were also the location for a number of James Bond movies, including Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye. This is one of the world’s historic and emblematic casinos. It has set the standard in elegance ever since it was built and inaugurated by the stage legend Sarah Bernhardt in 1879. If you’re bored and stuck at home on a rainy night, we recommend watching one of the Bond movies mentioned above and playing online casino for a fun night in.
Africa – Sun City Resort, South Africa
Sun City Resort, also known as the Lost City, is a luxury hotel and casino resort in South Africa. It is located roughly 140km north of Johannesburg near the city of Rustenburg. Developed by the hotel magnate Sol Kerzner (South Africa’s version of Donald Trump), the resort officially opened in 1979 in the independent African state of Bophuthatswana. It was built outside of South African territory to circumvent the country’s gambling laws. Bophuthatswana was reintegrated into South Africa in 1994. Sun City is one of the largest resorts on the African continent. The vast resort complex contains four hotels, including the iconic Palace of the Lost City, two golf courses, a waterpark a casino and concert venue. The resort is designed to resemble a lost African palace and the interior is richly decorated in an African colonial style. The lavish interiors were used as the backdrop for the 2014 movie, Blended, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It’s not easy to fly to South Africa right now, but this could be another good choice for a movie night followed by online casino in New Zealand.
America – Bellagio, Las Vegas
Bellagio Las Vegas was designed by Mike Hong Architects for the developer Steve Wynn and is inspired by the village of Bellagio in the Lake Como region of Italy. Wynn’s ambitious vision for the project was to build a lake lined with Italian villas in the middle of the Nevada desert. Mike Hong combined elements of classic Italian design with his unique American vernacular to create the Bellagio hotel, which opened in 1998. The design of the resort reflects the colours and styles of Italy and the Mediterranean in ochre and pastel tones. At the front of the hotel, a vast blue lake contains the iconic Bellagio fountains. This choreographed water feature performs a show with lights and music every thirty minutes. The massive manmade lake spans an area of 3.2 hectares and was the largest fountain in the world until recently. Inside the Bellagio there is a conservatory and botanical gardens with seasonal plants changed to suit the seasons, tended by a horticultural team of 120 people. The hotel also boasts nightly performances of ‘O’ by the Cirque du Soleil with world-class acrobats, gymnasts, trapeze artists and synchronised swimmers. The Bellagio has become a modern icon, particularly thanks to the 2001 film, Ocean’s Eleven, and boasts incredible features like Dale Chihuly’s Fiori di Como artwork composed of over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers in the reception area.
Asia – Orpheus Hotel and Casino, City of Dreams Macau
The Orpheus hotel and casino in the city of Macau is located on Asia’s famous Cotai Strip. The iconic landmark measures 160 metres and was constructed with 22,000 tonnes of steel, which is enough steel to build four Eiffel towers! It was designed by the late, Dame Zaha Hadid, one of the most influential architects of the late 20th and early 21st century, who designed the building with her architectural partner, Patrik Schumacher. This immense building has a surface area of 150,000 square metres and is wrapped in a free-form metal exoskeleton. The incredible design continues inside the building with high-speed panoramic lifts that offer spectacular views of the dynamic interior space. The organic mesh-like outer skin is echoed in the building’s interior, which has many more surprising twists and turns to enthral visitors. On the exterior, the centre of the hotel is divided into two distinct towers connected by sky bridges integrated into the steel exoskeleton. The result is three breath-taking voids in the building’s outer shell. This emblematic structure leaves no questions as to why Zaha Hadid was known as the ‘Queen of the Curve’ in the architectural world. Although her style is not easily defined, Hadid has been connected with architectural deconstructivism, neo-futurism and parametricism (the latter term coined by Patrik Schumacher himself).