Fentress won first place in a national competition with a design that represents Clark County community values and natural environment.
Fentress design philosophy considers landscape an essential source of inspiration. It connects architecture with community and the history of a region and its people.
Fentress eschewed a traditional or classical layout for Clark County’s government center. Instead, they chose to wrap the program in a unifying embrace. The building’s massing represents a government open and accessible to its people. Natural stone forms and rings of shade trees encircle an outdoor public amphitheater, drawing the community closer the activities of their government.
Materiality and scale borrow from the surrounding desert environment: sandstone walls ascend from the earth, unexpected openings draw visitors in, and geometric shapes translate ancient form for a modern structure.
A specially created docent program provides architectural tours to meet community demand to engage deeper with building, view its art installations, attend the art events it hosts, and understand the project’s many unique features. Our design illustrates that built form can emerge from its environs and culture to embrace, connect, and inspire its community.
