Abstract
The Bergman Walls & Associates architectural drawings are comprised of architectural and interior drawings created between 1997 and 2017. The drawings primarily focus on Las Vegas, Nevada properties, but also include drawings for projects around the United States and international locations. Typical drawing types include initial design sketches, exterior and interior perspective renderings, site plans, floor plans, sections, elevations, and detail drawings and diagrams of specific building components. The material is available in the form of physical drawings, digital scans of original content, and computer generated renderings, with some material in the collection unique to either physical or digital formats.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
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Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Bergman Walls & Associates architectural drawings are comprised of architectural and interior drawings created between 1997 and 2017. The drawings primarily focus on Las Vegas, Nevada properties, but also include drawings for projects around the United States and international locations. Drawings include preliminary studies on sketch paper using pen and markers, hand-drawn renderings on architectural vellum using markers and watercolors, and computer reproductions of renderings and computer-aided drafted drawings used for presentations. Typical drawing types include initial design sketches, exterior and interior perspective renderings, site plans, floor plans, sections, elevations, and detail drawings and diagrams of specific building components. The material is available in physical drawing formats, digital scans of original content, and computer generated renderings.
Las Vegas projects designed by Bergman Walls & Associates include the Paris Las Vegas and Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, as well as various renovations, expansions, and conceptual designs for Caesars Palace, the Sahara Hotel and Casino, MGM Grand, Bally’s Las Vegas, Cashman Center, Golden Nugget Las Vegas, and the Tropicana Las Vegas. Projects for clients outside of Las Vegas include built and unbuilt projects in California, Louisiana, New Jersey, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Peru, France, West Africa, New Zealand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Project types include convention centers, hotels, casinos, Native American resorts, commercial buildings, residential towers, restaurants, office buildings, and unbuilt conceptual projects.
Access Note
Collection is open for research. Arrangements must be made in advance to access digital files; please contact UNLV Special Collections and Archives for additional information.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
These records are organized alphabetically by project name.
Biographical / Historical Note
Bergman Walls & Associates (BWA), formally known as Bergman, Walls & Youngblood, is an architectural and interior design firm founded in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. The firm specializes in designing hotels, master planned resorts, casinos, condominiums, retail buildings, dining spaces, entertainment venues, and mixed-use facilities. In addition, BWA designed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified facilities, such as the Caesars Palace Convention Center and Octavius Tower (both LEED Silver Certified), meeting sustainability goals in architectural design. The firm operates offices in Las Vegas, Nevada; Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Joel Bergman (1936-2016) and Scott Walls founded Bergman Walls & Associates in 1994. Bergman previously worked with Martin Stern Jr., AIA Architect and Associates, and both Bergman and Walls previously worked with Steve Wynn at Wynn's design firm, Atlandia. After working with Stern, Bergman started as 1978 as Wynn's in-house architect, helping to design the Mirage, Treasure Island, and the International Hotel. Bergman and Walls left Wynn in 1994 to create BWA, where Bergman served as Chairman while Walls served as President and Chief Operating Officer.
In 1997, BWA designed the Palace Tower for Caesars Palace as one of their first major projects. After the Palace Tower's completion, Caesars provided continued work including Augustus Tower in 2005, Octavius Tower in 2012, the Caesars Palace Convention Center in 2010, the Bacchanal Buffet in 2012, and the Caesars Palace’s Omnia Nightclub in 2015. BWA also designed the Paris Las Vegas, a twenty-four acre French Chateau-inspired hotel that opened in 1999, the Signature Suites towers at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in 2006, and the 645-feet tall Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in 2008, the tallest residential building in Las Vegas at the time of its completion.
Other recent projects by BWA's include the 2,640 guest room and suite remodeling at the Linq Hotel & Casino in 2014 and the Tropicana Las Vegas pool, casino, and dining hall remodeling in 2011. BWA originally designed the 2.8 billion dollar Fontainebleau Resort Las Vegas, but the original owner, Turnberry Associates, cancelled the Fontainebleau during its construction in 2009 due to legal and financial issues. After a number of ownership transfers, the latest owners, Witkoff Group and New Valley LLC, changed the Fountainebleau's name to the Drew Las Vegas, but the project's status remains on hold as of 2019.
Walls retired on April 2, 2010, remaining to serve as a director and marketer for BWA while George Bergman, Joel Bergman’s second eldest son, replaced Walls as President. Joel Bergman continued to serve as Chairman until Leonard Bergman, Joel Bergman’s eldest son, became President and CEO of the firm in 2011, with George Bergman later serving as Executive Vice President.
Sources:
“About.” Bergman Walls & Associates. 2015. Accessed April 1, 2019. http://www.bwaltd.com/about.
Benston, Liz. “Six Questions: Joel Bergman, architect of themed megaresorts.”
Casino Style Staff. "Bergman Walls & Associates."
Davidson, Michael Scott. “Bergman, designer of major Las Vegas hotels, dies at 80.”
“George Bergman Promoted to President of BWA.”
Green, Steve. “Fontainebleau moves to cancel conventions, worker contracts.”
Illia, Tony. "Lasting Legacy: Remembering Architect Joel D. Bergman, AIA, Pioneer of the Modern Las Vegas Megaresort."
Preferred Citation
Bergman Walls & Associates Architectural Drawings, 1997-2017. MS-00910. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 2018 by Leonard Bergman; accession number 2019-004.
Processing Note
In 2019, Tammi Kim processed the born-digital materials and created access copies. As part of an archival backlog elimination project, Jimmy Chang rehoused and arranged the materials, wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.