Honorable Mention - Adaptive Reuse of a Big-Box Space
Occupying four floors of the historic Higbee Building in downtown Cleveland, the 300,000-sq.-ft. Horseshoe Casino features 96,000 sq. ft. of gaming space, a World Series of Poker Room, a 400-seat buffet, two bars, a food court, back-of-the-house functions and an executive office suite for the owner’s business operations. As part adaptive re-use of space for the casino’s design, KA had to blend the project into the historical nature of the building with the latest technologies and energy efficient practices. The firm had to fit all new systems into the building envelope, while honoring the historic structure and avoiding intrusion into the existing tenants’ operation
Elements of the building’s existing design were returned to closer alignment with their original intent. To honor the building’s origins, KA removed partitions to recreate large spaces, returned dropped ceilings to their original height, restored decorative facades on columns and beams and opened up windows to let in more light. A procession of new crystal chandeliers now stretches along the street-level column bay, from the casino’s Public Square entrance to its Prospect Avenue entry, emulating a similar row of light fixtures that existed in the former department store.
KA also identified available parking in proximity to the casino and mapped access routes to the new attraction. The new Collection Auto Group Centre serves to interconnect the existing environment and provides valet and self-parking operations.
Credits
Project Name: Horseshoe Casino Cleveland
Location: Cleveland
Size: 300,000 sq. ft.
Executive Architect: KA Inc.
Design Architect: Friedmutter Group
Developer/Owner: Rock Ohio Caesars LLC
Associate Architect: Robert P. Madison International Inc.
MEP Lead: URS Corp.
Technology: Smith Seckman Reid
Structural Engineer: Thorson Baker & Associates
Code: FP&C Consultants Inc.
Historical: Steven McQuillin & Associates
Graphics: Kiku Obata & Company
Acoustics: JBA Consulting Engineers
Lighting: Illuminating Concepts
Kitchen: JEM Associates West Inc.
Vertical Transportation: Lerch Bates
Waste Management / Material Handling: Lerch Bates, Inc.
Hardware Consultant: Midland Hardware
Environmental: RCS Environmental Group Ltd.
Surveyor: The C.W. Courtney Co.
Civil: Woolpert
General Contractor: Whiting-Turner
Geotechnical / Environmental Engineer: PSI
Traffic: Wilbur Smith Associates
Slot / Accent Lights: e.gads