Home Sweet Las Vegas
Robert Venturi and Siegfried & Roy have never met. Both have made Las Vegas history.
Venturi is the author of arguably the most influential book on architecture in the 20th Century, "Learning from Las Vegas," which was published in 1972.
Considered one of the most knowledgeable architectural theorists of the late 20th Century, Venturi's "Las Vegas" work proclaimed the significance of popular culture, commercial vernacular design, and the architecture of the roadside strip as sources for serious architecture.
Those associated with "Bliss of the Earth," a European exhibition planned to trace mankind's history as it relates to Las Vegas, feel the "Strip" is literally a travel through space and time and that its architecture is based on the idea of magic and illusion.
When Siegfried & Roy came to Las Vegas, no one would have ever thoughts that magicians could become the attraction and influence that made its appearance today possible.
Las Vegas today — day and night, inside and outside — changes like in medieval times. Looking at most of the casinos and resorts, it's obvious that they are using illusionism as a means to communicate with visitors to make them forget where they came from and where they are.
This is exactly what Siegfried & Roy have done with their audiences from the first time they set foot on a Las Vegas stage more than three decades ago.
Siegfried & Roy's audience success has shaped Las Vegas...its shows and even its architecture. Only through Siegfried & Roy's step into "another dimension" and showing that "mass dreams and fantasy" did the "right people" realize the effect of these elements. And, hasn't Las Vegas been called a magical city since?
"Las Vegas has always been a place of magic; a place for people to get away from reality," says Roy. "When we arrived here the city operated on a simple theory: attend a show, gamble and stay by the pool. Now, every element of the city is an attraction, a type of show. It's as if the city has a dome on it or a turnstile that allows each visitor to enter the magical world, a one-of-a-kind place that takes over the mind and body."
"We've traveled the world and no place is like our home, Las Vegas," adds Siegfried." Other places have tried to copy it, but none have succeeded. Las Vegas remains the ultimate real-life illusion.
