The Last Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) has released renderings of its new museum building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré. Kéré’s design for the 60,000-square-foot building is inspired by the nearby Mojave Desert, the surrounding Red Rock Mountains, baobab trees, and Las Vegas’s Guardian Angel Cathedral, a Catholic church with an A-frame design built by architect Paul Revere Williams in 1963.
The museum’s mosaic-like façade will be constructed from local reddish-brown stone. A roof canopy will create a large shaded plaza by the entrance, and there will also be a sculpture garden.
“Las Vegas is a place of architectural marvels and of a timeless, awe-inspiring desert landscape. We hope to create a welcoming, engaging building that reflects both aspects of Las Vegas, restoring the presence of the natural world to the iconic skyline,” Kéré said in a statement.
The long-awaited museum got a big boost in the fall of 2024, when the city of Las Vegas agreed to give the LVMA an acre and a half of land downtown. The site is across the street from the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which hosts touring Broadway shows and performances by the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Nevada Ballet Theater.
Two of the most important driving forces behind the realization of the museum are Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and a founding trustee of the LVMA, and the late Elaine Wynn, former ARTnews Top 200 Collector, casino magnate, longtime arts patron, and LVMA founding board chair.
When the new museum was formally announced in September 2024, Wynn, then 82, told the New York Times that “My days are numbered. I thought, what’s my final gift? I want to leave an imprint other than my name on a hotel casino.”
The LVMA has an unusual arrangement with LACMA. While the Vegas museum has its own director (Heather Harmon) and board, it will, for now, essentially operate a satellite of LACMA, borrowing artworks, exhibitions, and educational programs from their west coast partner. “Starting a regional museum from scratch is a difficult task,” Govan told the Times. “We can help nurture and birth this museum. . . . Maybe it’s a new model for expanding access to culture without the deep infrastructure that it takes to care for collections.”
LVMA is halfway toward a $200 million capital campaign. “The design embodies the diversity of our great city and signals the dawning of a new era for culture in Las Vegas,” said Harmon. “We are moving ahead with confidence toward a grand opening in 2029.”
