Pictures of the Future    Spring 2006

City within a City

A city within the city is taking shape in Las Vegas —with pioneering technologies from Siemens that will increase comfort, improve security and limit environmental impact.

When the MGM MIRAGE group, a leader in the hotel and gaming industry, decided to build the largest, privately-funded development project in Las Vegas, they decided that it was not worth gambling on the future with an untested partner.

In August 2005, they awarded a $100 million contract to Siemens to assemble a collection of technologies and services to help make their vision a reality. "MGM MIRAGE selected Siemens because of the company’s successful track record building other large-scale complexes throughout the U.S. with the most advanced technologies," said Terry Lanni, CEO of MGM MIRAGE. "Siemens understands our ambitious vision for Project CITYCENTER as a unique development where people can live, work and play."

It is certainly no understatement to call Project CITYCENTER an "ambitious vision." One acre (the size of a small soccer field) of property on the Las Vegas strip is today worth an estimated $20 million. MGM MIRAGE will use 66 acres of this precious land to build a "city within a city." Project CITYCENTER, when completed, will include a 4,000-room hotel and casino, three 400-room specialized boutique hotels, 1,650 luxury condominium units, and over 500,000 square feet (almost 50,000 m²) of retail, dining and entertainment space. The timeline is also ambitious. The project’s doors are scheduled to open in November 2009 —a mere 50 months after the contract with Siemens was signed.

The challenge presented to Siemens by this project is significant. While Siemens has the capability to supply advanced infrastructure components today, MGM MIRAGE wants Siemens to provide systems that will still be state-of-the-art in 2010.

The Siemens One organization immediately assembled a team of research and development experts from operating companies and from Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) to identify suitable technologies for MGM MIRAGE.

For example, Siemens Building Technologies is looking at the latest building management systems and sensors. Communications is looking at ways to improve communications for guests. Even Siemens' home appliances business is involved. SCR is applying the latest in scenario planning technology to develop a picture of life and technology at Project CITYCENTER in 2010. This tightly focused "Picture of the Future" will assist Siemens in exploring potential applications and in helping MGM MIRAGE to visualize the impact of key technologies on the project as a whole.

Green Buildings. Perhaps the greatest opportunities for both companies lie in the determination of MGM MIRAGE to create an environmentally-friendly "green" building on the Las Vegas strip. In the late 1990s, a government program created the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This organization sought to embed environmental consciousness into the building industry by showing how building "green" not only impacts the environment favorably but can also lead to bottom-line benefits. The state of Nevada, for example, offers tax credits based on adherence to certain USGBC requirements —requirements that many Siemens technologies can help MGM MIRAGE to meet. If it qualifies, MGM MIRAGE can achieve major savings.

Here are some examples of how Siemens can help: Innovative OSRAM Sylvania lighting systems can significantly cut the power requirements in lighting the entire complex. Siemens Building Technologies can offer co-generation capabilities and electrical infrastructure to allow Project CITYCENTER to efficiently provide some of the electricity it uses. This is critical in a city in which 50 % of the energy used annually goes to providing residential air-conditioning.

Perhaps most significantly, for a facility based in a desert, Siemens can maximize water utilization —for example, using a water filtration plant that could recycle waste water for use in providing environmental cooling for residents. Recycling water, at a site that could use up to 150,000 hl a day, could produce dramatic savings. Naturally, the benefits that will result from implementation of these technologies will be passed on to the residents and guests of the CITYCENTER facility in the form of lower utility costs and a cleaner, more secure environment.
                                                                                                            Robert E. Tevis