New Mexico has always been known for its breathtaking landscapes, rich culture, welcoming people and wealth of natural resources, particularly gold. Inhabitants of the Rio Grande region for hundreds of years, the Pueblo of Isleta are well aware of everything the area has to offer—and the tribe has recently added a new attraction of its own: one of the most distinctive and breathtaking entertainment facilities in the desert southwest, the Isleta Casino & Resort.
Once a small start-up casino, as of July the property is now a first-class entertainment destination offering a 200-room hotel tower, 300,000-square-foot casino, 24-hour café, steakhouse, Asian bistro, indoor pool, fitness room, full-service spa, children’s recreation center, and more than 30,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space.
According to Thomas Hoskens, vice president of Cuningham Group Architecture P.A., an iconic design is critical to success in Albuquerque’s competitive gaming market, and his firm worked with the Pueblo of Isleta to create just that. “Master planning is the key to expanding any existing facility,” he said. “We have been successful at creating unique facilities by incorporating a planning design process that includes visioning and chartering sessions with the client from the onset. … The obstacle one faces is how to envision the best design to create a truly unique and memorable experience while being true to the regional character and the client’s vision. I believe our team accomplished this and more—and our client certainly agrees.”
Maintaining the poetry of the landscape and incorporating the Pueblo of Isleta’s rich culture throughout the property were top priorities in the design process, and Hoskens says his team studied the tribe’s history for inspiration. “Modern resort design is not about theme but about interpreting the client’s vision and extracting metaphors from the region and the site, then translating those visions into distinctive and timeless modern forms,” he explained. “We were drawn to three metaphors that influenced the architecture and design: adobe, feathers and pottery produced by the Pueblo.”
To interpret those themes, the Cuningham team called on an evolutionary linear process, tackling each element individually before bringing the next. First up was adobe. “The adobe used in the existing Pueblo buildings is the basic form-giver,” Hoskens said. “The adobe was undulated and layered to bring out the shapes of the functional building forms. Then colors were extracted from local mountains and landscape along with the native soils.”
The next step was the pottery, which were abstracted, scaled and used as major landmark elements for the front door. Pottery pieces were also incorporated into the design of the spa and to create a round meeting room that serves as a terminus to the convention center’s pre-function space. Finally, the feather was used as a major form-giver to the seven-story, 90-foot atrium’s sun-screening device.
The tribe’s cultural influence can be found incorporated throughout the property, from the variety of woods, quartz and terrazzo on building exteriors to the historical photos hanging on striated wooden walls throughout the property.
In the hotel tower, texture plays a big role in the lobby, corridors and rooms. Monochromatic flooring of textural “sticks and twigs” can be found in different scales between corridors and rooms, while rich wood tones add elegance to refined and contemporary furnishings. Guests are also treated to a path that meanders diagonally from restaurants, retail shops, the bar and eateries, punctuated by landscape courts, skylights and visually exciting spaces.
An open-air atrium in the lobby celebrates the verticality of the red rock walls, which are also highly textural by design. The integrated water feature along the red rock walls adds a touch of elegance and even appears to “flow” from the atrium to the exterior of the spa, offering a connection to nature and a sense of mystery and exploration for guests.
The convention center is also striking and welcoming. A dramatic barrel vault in the pre-function space is punctuated by skylight nodes and is seductively lit by off-center crystalline light fixtures, evoking a grand carved pathway. And unlike traditional convention spaces, guests will have an unforgettable visual experience, with the ceiling rolling by in subtle waves reminiscent of huge clouds. Leaving the traditional behind, of course, the meeting rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art rear projection screens and wireless Internet connection found throughout the center.
Following suit in the marriage of modern comforts and traditional influence, the spa took form through the concept of hydration and the importance of clay as the foundation of pottery. With soothing, water-inspired colors and natural textures transitioning from tactile to smooth, the path from the reception area to the private treatment rooms evokes a calming and restful mood. The spa’s amorphous ceilings, reception area millwork and overall layout are all organic in nature, and a flowering path offers privacy for a leisurely stroll. The final destination for most spa guests will be the “Spa Jar,” a private, semi-sheltered outdoor spa in the shape of native pottery—the perfect locale for refreshments and relaxation.
Guest comfort was also a major concern during the construction phase of the casino’s expansion. “Expansions are always tricky on resort projects,” Hoskens explained. “One must maintain existing client loyalty and ease of access through this obstructive, noisy process. We have extensive experience in ‘disruptive avoidance’ from the numerous casino renovations projects we have successfully completed over the past 15 years. We meet with the operations team and the contractor to develop optimum plans for minimum disruption.”
Not disrupting the natural environment was also key. “As always, we consider the environment before specifying products and materials,” Hoskens said. “Even though we did not register the project with the U.S. Green Building Council, we followed a checklist that enabled us to make smart decisions from the onset that maximized water, site, air and building conditions that reinforced a sustainable building design.”
As the Isleta Hotel & Casino continues to embody those pillars New Mexico is known for, welcome guests are more than happy to appreciate the view, take in a bit of culture, and if they’re lucky, head home with some gold of their own.
Key Players
Owner: Pueblo of Isleta
Operator: Pueblo of Isleta
Architect: Cuningham Group Architecture P.A.
Interior Design: Cuningham Group Architecture P.A.
Contractor: Hunt / Bradbury Stamm – A Joint Venture
Construction Manager: Parsons – 3D/I
Krista Reiner is the Managing Editor for Casino Enterprise Management. She can be reached at (701)293-7775 or editor1@aceme.org.
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