About

market: sports & entertainment

size: casino entry experience

scope: concept, thematic design, artwork and architecture

project description

As founders of Olio, Inc., Bob Bangham and Rowena Macaraeg designed the pirate village, ships, bars, restaurants, signage, and interiors that defined the aesthetic for the most intricately themed and exhaustively realized environment outside of Disney World. They oversaw every aspect of the project including the design of artwork, sculpture, set fabrication, costume design, logos and graphic, as well as the show design.

project insights

In the early nineties, Steve Wynn was on a mission to reinvent Las Vegas. His goal was to eliminate neon and replace it with fantastical resort environments that appealed to a family audience. After the success of the Mirage, Steve became the first Casino Mogul to venture outside of Las Vegas for the design of his next resort. He came to the creative team that built the wildly successful Universal Citywalk and his challenge to us was to realize his dream of a pirate village and create a sign that people could walk into. Bob and Ro’s approach was founded on the simple idea that pirates wouldn’t build a village, they would steal one. So we spent the next two years “stealing” architectural trinkets and baubles from around the world and composing them with a seaman’s sense.

OTHER WORK