Pulse

JCJ Architecture: the evolution of casino design

By Lewis - 25 May 2021

Bob Gdowski, AIA, Director of Hospitality Design at JCJ Architecture, details the role of architectural design in keeping players engaged and the changes we should expect to gaming floors in the future.

Could you tell us about some of JCJ Architecture’s casino projects in the past and any projects you are currently working upon?

JCJ Architecture’s Gaming & Hospitality practice was built upon a strong foundation of trust and unique capability. Our work in this market began in the early nineties through our collaboration with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, pioneers of destination casino resorts, in helping them see their vision for the Foxwoods Casino Resort come to life.

Our reputation has since fostered the growth of the firm to seven offices, with a portfolio encompassing hundreds of casino projects that span the spectrum in terms of scale, location, and aesthetic.

Two of our most notable projects are Resorts World Casino New York City, one of the nation’s top slots revenue generators, and Resorts World Catskills, a luxury destination – both in collaboration with Malaysia-based Genting.

Other projects of note include Hollywood Park Casino located just a few miles from Los Angeles International Airport, Viejas Casino Resort in Southern California, multiple projects for Bally’s Corp (formerly known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings), and Penn National.

One of our most significant current projects is the Choctaw Casino and Resort Durant Expansion. Located just 90 minutes north of Dallas, the project encompasses a 1,000 guest room hotel, casino, food and beverage, and parking expansion, representing a more than $500m investment from the tribe into this property.

How important and what role does architectural design play when it comes to keeping players engaged?

Architecture has an inevitable influence on the way each of us moves through our day, and tends to mirror the story of who we are or who we want to be. Deliberately and unexpectedly, we form relationships with the built environment. Individuals engage architecture functionally, and if done correctly, architecture engages us back emotionally and inspirationally.

Casino architecture is no exception, but it has travelled a tenuous road to get to this point. At the dawn of casinos as ‘entertainment hubs’ we saw a style of architecture that was often unashamed and paper-thin, much like a greeting card that momentarily steals your attention and then fails to live up to a promise.

This was a design methodology that focused on bombastic overstimulation created by the desire to drive a guest into hyper-focus. This experience was one rooted in the art of anticipation: the anticipation of the flip of the ace, the roll of the dice, or the landing of the pill in the pocket; at the time, a purely gaming-driven emotion.

Often, design was guided by an art of confusing and disorienting the guest, ensuring they felt more comfortable bellied-up to a table than wandering the floor. We see things far differently today. The art of anticipation is no longer simply at the hand of the dealer, but also created through the relationship between architecture and the guest.

Engaging the guest is not about disorienting their senses, but about creating environments that compel, inspire, and absorb them. Casino architecture now focuses on designing spaces that people enjoy interacting with and feel genuinely moved by. This is not at the dismissal of escapism, but rather achieves that romance through more authentic expressions and inspiration.

When a guest feels an emotional connection to a space, and when they feel that they can author their own story within that space, then we have succeeded in truly engaging them. We have succeeded in creating a loyal and lifelong patron, which is ultimately the cornerstone of any casino.

What changes to gaming floors can we expect to see in the future? What do you think gaming floors in casinos will look like in the future? Will they be very different to what we have on offer now?

The gaming floor is on an impending path to reinvention. Casino developments at large have trailed well behind the rest of the hospitality industry in recognising the importance of biophilic design.

This is a movement that responds to one’s innate desire to connect with nature, by blurring the line between the built environment and the natural world. As we place a greater emphasis on promoting wellbeing and creating emotionally impactful spaces, we will begin to see an evolved model of casino design.

This model will capitalise on assets that we all already have access to via strategies such as programming outdoor spaces, bringing nature indoors, the use of natural materials, and introducing daylight and multidirectional outdoor views.

While the programming of outdoor spaces is not a new concept for casino resorts, it is a trend that will mature as the industry continues to recognise the opportunities for growth in capitalising on natural assets.

This trend will build upon what we were already seeing here and there, as restaurants spilled onto the sidewalks, spas popped up on rooftops, and guest room balconies became increasingly popular.

Casino resorts have included peripheral gaming spaces on pool decks since before the rise of colour photography, but it wasn’t until the onset of the pandemic that we began to see a purposeful movement to capture outdoor spaces for gaming.

The industry has long looked to tropical themes as an easy route to escapism, whisking guests away to other worlds through the use of lush greenery and lively plantings.

Ever since this trend became more sophisticated around the turn of the century, we have seen a dramatic increase in retail promenades lined with flora, buffets teeming with botanic life, conservatories, and high-limit rooms that offer garden tours.

This is a trend that can lean towards ostentatiousness, but the underlying principles serve as useful inspiration for how the presence of nature can impact our indoor experiences.

The use of natural materials can also serve to enhance a feeling of connection with nature. The choice to use natural materials is not an intuitive one in casino spaces that are intended to over stimulate the guest, but surfaces have a huge impact on how we interact with and emotionally engage with our environment.

The industry places a lot of emphasis on digital features that promote interaction, but more natural connections can be achieved through materiality.

Finally, bringing natural daylight to the gaming floor is a proposition that has spurred much disagreement in the industry. The brief window of time between the sun hitting the horizon to the time it fully sets is often seen as the moment that environmental psychology sets in and gamers become aware of how long they have been on the floor.

While some express concerns about this, along with the glare and distraction of sunlight, these apprehensions are misplaced. The benefits of allowing natural daylight to enhance the pleasure-seeking atmosphere of the gaming floor far outweigh the costs.

How will the design of casinos change in order to attract new players and retain older players?

While there are endless variables that continue to inform the evolution of casino design, there is one aspect where the needle will move very little, and that is the psychology of the gamer. Between the desire, the passion, the calculation, and the anticipation, there is very little that changes between generations of gamers.

Most differences in expectations lie outside of the action on the floor. The importance of these peripheral experiences saw a climax in the late nineties when markets like Las Vegas began recording higher non-gaming revenue than gaming revenue.

This paradigm shift has had enduring influence in terms of how casinos address a broader audience. When you look at the attraction of new guests and the retention of existing guests through those lenses, it becomes a much richer design conversation.

It becomes a conversation about the interdependencies, the integration, and the synergy between the gaming floor and these hospitality based-experiences.

Amenities such as food and beverage, entertainment, spas, recreation, and retail were once secondary amenities, but have now become the defining drivers of how we get guests through the doors, and how we keep them coming back. Now more than ever, casino design must be synonymous with hospitality design.

Casino design is now being driven by the experiential expectations within the hospitality market, a proposition that becomes remarkably intense and stimulating when layered on top of the innate dynamics of gaming design.

This confluence is where we start to see the evolution of well-being and connectivity with our natural environment play a more prominent role in casino resort developments. This is exactly how we continue to attract new guests, while still retaining and nurturing our older guests.