Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Visitor Center
Las Vegas
Assemblage Studio

Assemblage Studio draws on a pioneer heritage to infuse a small museum with subtle exuberance.

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	Click here for slide show. Photo © Dave Bassett

By David Sokol

The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Visitor Center lies just a few miles north along Las Vegas Boulevard from the Strip, but that's where the commonalities end. This museum, devoted to the region's history, measures a mere 5,000 square feet. Except for a few historic neon signs on exhibit, it displays none of the ostentation of casino culture— instead possessing a quieter, handmade sensibility. "It's a definite contrast to glitz and glamour," says Eric Strain, AIA, principal of Assemblage Studio.

Located in Vegas's sleepy cultural corridor, which includes the Antoine Predock-designed Las Vegas Library just across the street, the visitor center sits shoehorned between its namesake and a parking lot. In 1855, Mormon missionaries erected a 150-foot-square adobe fort nearby on a slight plateau above a creek. Only its southeast wall remains.

Assemblage was little more than a year old when Nevada's Division of State Parks and Public Works Board issued an RFQ for the visitor center in 1999, part of a larger master plan to excavate the fort and restore it. As Strain recalls, "All I had to show for my qualifications was my thesis project"— a proposal, coincidentally, he made in 1990 for a museum on the same site. The state appreciated his grasp of historical relevance and took a chance on commissioning him. In addition to designing 2,500 square feet of exhibition space for interpreting the fort and local history, the program included a gift shop, a library, a video screening room, and a large area for school children to congregate.

Assemblage drew inspiration from the fort and the pioneer heritage it represents. Outside the visitor center's main, eastern elevation, a pathway switches back through rows of ornamental grass like a handcart trail. This trek ends at an entrance volume, a chunky wedge of acid-rusted steel that holds up a butterfly roof.

The entrance wall extends beyond the main building's L-shaped footprint, hinting that it is perhaps following a preexisting protective barrier. Restrooms occupy a separate structure just south of the entry, guarding it like a bastion. Inside the main building, a reception desk and gift shop greet visitors. An enclosed volume, painted a luminescent green, stretches away from the entry and contains offices as well as the library. Galleries span the length of this enclosure and, turning the corner, end in a temporary exhibition space with an exit to the courtyard, where a stair leads to the historic fort beyond.

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Formal name of project:
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Visitor Center

Location:
Las Vegas

Gross square footage:
5,000 sq. ft.

Total Construction Cost:
$1.6 million

Owner:
Public Works Board and Nevada Division of State Parks

Architect:
Assemblage Studio
2121 E. Tropicana, Ste. B
Las Vegas, NV 89119
702-464-5126 tel.
702-364-5128 fax

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