On February 19, the new $400 million Desert Diamond West Valley Casino held its official grand opening. The highly anticipated 1.2 million-square-foot casino was filled with guests eager to experience the next phase of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s vision for its Glendale, Arizona, entertainment development outside Phoenix.
Top 5 nationally ranked hospitality designers HBG Design created the casino’s strikingly bold and sophisticated exterior and interior aesthetic, including the 75,000-square-foot casino floor, five uniquely designed restaurants and two eye-catching feature bars—the Edge Bar and the two-story Rock Bar—all derived from a distinctive Sonoran Desert-inspired design language.
Located in the heart of the bustling Westgate entertainment and sports district on the west side of the Phoenix Metro area, the new Desert Diamond West Valley Casino creates synergy with the surrounding entertainment options to deliver unique experiences for regional gaming patrons.
The design of the new casino is derived from the design team’s inspirational concept of “The Dynamic Earth,” a unique interpretation of the desert’s abundance, significant to the Tohono O’odham Nation.
The HBG Design team took a holistic approach to the architecture, interior design, lighting and landscaping to produce a meaningful and integrated guest experience centered around concepts belonging to The Dynamic Earth.
The design draws inspiration from the characteristics of the desert that are uniquely experienced here—the life and breath of the desert’s unique weather; the ever-changing light and shadow of the endless sky; and the solidity and sculptural elements of the land.
“The HBG Design team was challenged to envision a holistic project concept and translate that into a design vocabulary appropriate for this high-end gaming resort,” says Emily Marshall, IIDA, NCIDQ, interior design director and senior associate at HBG Design.
“The driving concept of ‘The Dynamic Earth’ was inspired by the life and energy of the desert and developed into unique design interpretations for multiple F&B venues, the casino floor, VIP spaces, public spaces and future phases. When achieving design cohesion, it’s literally all in the details. Design nuances pull individual stories together yielding a consistency that speaks to resort branding and a well-defined guest experience.”
Examples of this approach are numerous throughout the project.
The casino’s signature arching roofline is easily visible from adjacent Interstate 101. The architecture creates a beautiful contrast against the light and shadow of the desert sky. Its curved roof integrates LED lighting to mimic the ever-changing drama of the desert’s “endless sky.”
For the interior, windows allow the sunlight to filter inside, bounce around the colored
wall panels and provide glimpses to sun angles at every time of day. The hues of the interior color palette change from left to right with the time of day, as a sun dial might change as the path of desert light moves from dawn to dusk. At each end of the casino and all parts in between, color expresses a distinct range connected to the desert story—from cooler ambient tones found at dawn to rich, warm ambers and reds as experienced at dusk.
In the casual-dining Fortune Café, light and shadow balance to create intimate dining areas inside the new 182-seat facility. Designers added dimension by layering the dark exposed ceiling with an open-slat wooden ceiling plane. Contemporary pendants scattered throughout the space provide an abundance of light, while the private banquettes and patterned screening produce contrasting shadows leading to a more multi-dimensional dining experience. A 46-seat terrace adds sunlit outdoor dining.
At the Nineteen 86 Steakhouse, shapes and forms collide in the 99-seat design—just like the desert wind as it flows through the sky and sculpts the elements of the landscape. A balance of warm and cool toned finishes and materials in neutral shades turn the tempestuous silhouettes into an elegant backdrop for the resort’s fine dining.
OWNER: Tohono O’odham Nation
SIZE: 1.2 million square feet
OPENED: February 19, 2020
ARCHITECT: HBG Design
INVESTMENT: $400 million
