Paul Steelman

Gaming Profiles Back to the beginning

From the time he was a little boy, hotel/casino architect Paul Steelman has been involved with designing buildings. "I ran prints for my father (an architect) beginning when I was 5 or 6 years old," Steelman said. "When I was about 9, I got to do my first design -- renovating a little repair shop." Today, the 44-year-old Steelman heads his own company, Paul Steelman Design Group, has worked on projects around the world and employs about 100 people. His specialty is designing hotel-casinos.

Based in Las Vegas, the properties he has designed or renovated reads like a Who’s Who list of hotel/casinos: Mirage Resorts, MGM Grand, Harrah's Entertainment, Desert Inn, Golden Nugget, Gustav International and Hyatt Corp., to name a few.

When a new project is taken on, Steelman says, it is tackled by four teams -- Architectural, Interior, Production Elements, and Production Design. The team leaders all have input into the overall design and the number of people working on a project can run as high as 25. Steelman's own specialty is combining practicality with structural elements. "I love the business of design. Many of the aspects of our designs are focused on how a business operates. What I do best is understand [that relationship.]"

He uses certain guidelines when designing a resort. It has to be a showplace for the product, but not distract or interfere with the product. Its theme has to stimulate and delight the mind while generating a mood. A theme should not be trendy, but create a 'theme experience' that people will remember. A theme has to promote comfort, security and optimism while being stylish.

Steelman encourages his clients to be involved in every step of the process. While a color swatch may be approved for carpet or wallpaper, seeing the actual result saves untold dollars if the final effect is a disaster in the client's eyes. At Steelman's huge office complex, a separate area allows clients to view how their choices come together. A crew creates mock-ups of hallways and hotel rooms, outfitted with the selections the builder wanted -- drapes, carpet, wall paper, chairs. Steelman finds showing clients the mock-ups saves money and time. "They go in and they see the whole thing. If you're building a hotel with 3,000 rooms and you put the electrical wall outlets in the wrong place, that's 3,000 outlets you have to change. Doing it this way saves a lot."

It is not just wall outlets that concerns clients. Steelman recalled an animal-park-themed project in South Africa where he met with a Zulu tribe. Through translators, the chief kept asking, "What about the big five?" It turned out the big five referred to the rhinoceros, the tiger, leopard, elephant and another animal he couldn't recall -- but all were capable of jumping over the fence and eating the man's cattle.

In Northern Florida, he was designing a resort, but it's location threatened Indian land. "So I moved a lake."

Steelman also tells of a minister in Detroit who gave an impassioned speech against a proposed casino, only to back down if the "lost souls" he was worried about could be assured free parking passes at the casino. But most of his concerns deal with architectural elements. There are things one generally stays away from. "No blue," Steelman says. "It makes people look white and pale. And no mirrors where people can see themselves. They look and see they need to lose weight, or they've got a pimple. Once they look in a mirror, the fantasy is over."

Then there's practicality. Carpets mix colors in wild patterns for a reason -- to disguise cigarette burns and spilled drinks. With the high traffic they must endure, the carpets are replaced every three to four years. All this knowledge has been gained over years in the business. After graduating from Clemson University in 1977, Steelman worked for the planning board in his home town of Atlantic City. It was his intent to meet all the major resort builders and notable casino architects. "The wildest of the group was Joel Bergman. He taught me all the relationships of gambling and tandem activities. Henry Conversano taught me interiors -- looking, feeling the space, using the colors. He taught me how the interior relates to space." Steelman joined Steve Wynn In 1979, then opened his own business in 1987. Within the first month he was working on renovating Bally's Casino, Cactus Pete's Casino in Jackpot and the MGM Grand Theme Park. In 1990, when Indian gaming came on board "our business really took off."

This year he already has 10 projects in the works -- from Holland, to Switzerland, to Halifax and beyond.

The future, Steelman says, will see "techno-rooms." Rooms will have flat screen TVs and digital ports. They'll also have less furniture. "Right now rooms have too much furniture. A chair over here and one over there. It's cluttersome and expensive. New hotels will have furniture that moves, no bump-outs for TVs or dressers, everything will be tucked in. And they'll have cross ventilation so you don't smell that chemical odor." He predicts hotel rooms will have lights that can be changed to reflect one's mood. For casinos, more places will begin integrating the outdoors with the gaming areas.