Shibuya Restaurant
Las Vegas
Yabu Pushelberg

Yabu Pushelberg brings modern, urban Japan to life at a colorful restaurant deep inside a giant casino hotel

© David M. Joseph

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Clifford A. Pearson

Forget geishas, Zen temples, and quaint wooden houses in Kyoto. Think high-tech gadgets, anime, and big-city streets ablaze with commercial lighting. That’s what the people behind Shibuya did when they created a restaurant in Las Vegas named after one of Tokyo’s busiest neighborhoods.

Tucked inside the gigantic MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (which has more than 5,000 guest rooms and five swimming pools) along a broad corridor that leads to a series of other restaurants and shops, Shibuya faced the difficult challenge of attracting attention without screaming above the visual din. And like many restaurants in Las Vegas, it is a totally interior environment with no access to daylight. Designers Yabu Pushelberg also needed to wrestle with the size of the place, which at 7,000 square feet could feel cavernous, especially when less than full of diners. Luckily, the Toronto-based firm, which has designed such well-regarded establishments as the Times Square W Hotel in New York [RECORD, September 2002, page 154; archrecord.com] and the Four Seasons in Tokyo [Record, June 2003, page 227], had extensive experience in creating lively but sophisticated interiors. And the client (MGM Grand) wanted the restaurant to have a range of dining types—including a sushi bar, traditional table service, a semiprivate dining area, and tepanyaki grills—which created the opportunity to break down the sprawling space into smaller areas.

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Formal name of Project:
Shibuya Restaurant

Location:
Las Vegas

Gross square footage:
7,000 sq. ft.

Owner:
MGM Grand Hotel & Casino

Architect:
Yabu Pushelberg
55 Booth Avenue
Toronto Canada M4M 2M3
T 416-778-9779 x 248
F 416-778-9747

4F - 138 Spring Street
New York USA 10012
T212-226-0808
F212-226-0666

From left to right: George Yabu & Glenn Pushelberg