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FEBRUA RY 2017 | 61 Grand Villa Casino Edmonton RENDERINGS COURTESY KASIAN ARCHITECTURE INTERIOR DESIGN AND PLANNING LTD. Grand Villa Casino Edmonton by PETER STENNING B y its nature, new casino design is very much about providing glitz and razzle dazzle. But with so many exciting facilities operational across North America, how does one go about making a new venue special? That was the prime consideration of Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited CEO Tony Santo in April of 2015, when it was announced that a new casino would replace the city's old Baccarat Casino in the Edmonton Arena District. "Our goal is to be the nicest casino in the city, that's why we're calling it the Grand Villa Casino Edmonton," he said, adding that the finished product would be "much more of an entertaining space. This is a place where people can go, have a good time, and if you want to gamble you can do that too." Opened in September 2016, Grand Villa Casino Edmonton has quickly become the place to be in Alberta's capital. On any given night you can expect to rub elbows with NHL hockey players and other local celebrities, including the Atlas Steak + Fish/Grand Villa's executive chef and Chopped Canada champ, Shelley Robinson. At 60,000 square feet, the $32-million Grand Villa is twice the size of Baccarat and features live entertainment, upscale dining and a gaming floor – with a covered corridor leading to Rogers Place and connections to MacEwan LRT station and Ford Hall. It also boasts 24 gaming tables, 600 slot machines and private gaming salons. Instead of Baccarat's single restaurant, Grand Villa has a food court, a casual Match Eatery & Public House resto-pub and an upscale restaurant, Atlas Steak + Fish, with an adjoining private dining room large enough to accommodate visiting NHL teams. The facility, which occupies the second level of a four-storey building that is also home to the Oilers Entertainment Group and the Katz Group, is considered Gateway's top-tier brand. Another competitive edge is that it was designed by Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. to be reminiscent of classic Italian gaming facilities. "We accomplished this through the judicious use of colour, tiles, mosaics and other elements that would impart a subtle European ambiance," says James Lau, Kasian's associate, senior project manager. It also meant high-end finishes, procured from all points of the compass. "We were ordering from Mexico, China, Italy . . . you name it," says James Cassano, project manager at Clark Builders. "In fact, identifying very early on what materials were required was a priority, given the long shipment times and the project's tight timeframe." Kasian worked closely with Ombrages, the lighting design agency that aligns technical feasibility, project engineering and artistic creativity to achieve fully integrated lighting projects. "The owners wanted lighting to play a variety of roles, from subtle ambiance to spectacle, and this required close co-ordination with Kasian," says Ombrages partner and Western Canada project manager Sebastien Panouille. There were two key challenges to the project, the first being that Grand Villa would occupy a new steel frame with concrete slab building constructed by PCL that had been designed for specific floor loads. "This was a huge challenge, and we had to walk a fine line between architecture and economy," says Ben Benjamin, senior structural engineer for WSB Consulting Structural Engineers. "Fortunately, absolutely no upgrading had to be done." This is because, according to Benjamin, "we accommodated load capacities by spreading the distribution of different loads, and this resulted in minor modifications to gaming areas and the addition of a few beams throughout." Still, site work (which began in June of 2015) was complicated by the fact that PCL still hadn't signed off on the building, "so in addition to working closely with Kasian we also worked closely with PCL and the building's engineers," says Benjamin. The other major challenge was that the Rogers Place and Oilers Entertainment projects were underway at the same time as Grand Villa, and with roughly the same delivery dates. "We shared the same single access road with these other projects, so co-ordinating site access took several hours of planning daily," says Cassano. Working in close proximity with trades and subtrades of different projects had a curiously beneficial effect. "There was a spirit of healthy competition between the subtrades, PCL, the Oilers work crews and Clark," says Cassano. "We were determined to outdo each other in terms of work quality and efficiency." At peak, about 160 people and a full-time safety manager were working on Grand Villa in addition to a 100-member night shift crew. "We achieved a fabulous momentum early on, and this enabled us to stay on schedule," says Cassano. Safeguards had also been worked into the procurement of the high-end finishes. "We added two percent to the volume of each type of material ordered, to allow for damages that are inevitable in any international shipment," says Cassano. Despite that precaution, a shipment of curved glass that arrived at the end of the project had to be re-ordered due to extensive damage. "So there were a lot of tense moments waiting and hoping for trouble-free deliveries," says Cassano. Lighting systems were understandably complex: the gaming floor alone has two layers of light, with ceiling illumination augmented by curved, suspended lighting, the combination of which provides practical illumination and spectacle. For the central bar, Ombrages created eye-catching decorative globes, "but really most of the light in this area is reflected off materials," says Panouille. Most of the showcase lighting – most obviously the ribbons and waves of light that run throughout the casino – was custom manufactured, and even though Lau says that there was a committed budget to be mindful of, some of the most fantastic lighting experiences have been created. Panouille reports that "overall, 80 to 90 percent of the final result matched our initial concept, thanks to the majority of system changes being adjustments rather than deviations." Santo concludes, "From the beginning of this project we knew we were creating something special in the heart of downtown Edmonton. The finished space has surpassed all my expectations and I know our customers will enjoy an exceptional entertainment experience each time they visit. Whether it's celebrating an Oilers win, enjoying a night of entertainment and gambling with friends, or partaking in the unparalleled wine and culinary experience at Atlas, Grand Villa Casino Edmonton has something for everyone." A LOCATION 10180 – 10224 104 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited ARCHITECT KASIAN ARCHITECTURE INTERIOR DESIGN AND PLANNING LTD. GENERAL CONTRACTOR Clark Builders STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Weiler Smith Bower (WSB) Consulting Structural Engineers MECHANICAL / ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Integral Group LIGHTING CONSULTANT Ombrages TOTAL SIZE 60,000 square feet TOTAL COST $32 million 8:49 AM

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