Olympic Casino Sunrise
Warsaw, Poland

ARCHITECT & INTERIOR DESIGN: Meelis Press Architects
TOTAL COST: €7 million (US$9.5 million)
TOTAL SQUARE METERS: 1,600

The Olympic Casino Sunrise in Warsaw, Poland was the featured project among many for 2007 from Olympic Entertainment Group of Estonia.

Opened in May of that year, the Sunrise is the largest casino in Poland. It occupies 1,600 square meters spread over three levels inside the new Hilton Warsaw Hotel & Convention Center, which itself had opened just two months earlier. The 24-hour casino has 20 gaming tables including poker, and 100 slots.

Designed by Estonian architect Meelis Press, who does all of the signature casinos for Olympic, the Sunrise features the operator’s trademark attention to interior design. Press utilized a variety of marbles to create floor mosaics that reflect the “sunrise” theme. Artificial plants draped over a false ceiling that extends throughout the table games area create a hanging gardens effect.

The interior design portion of the casino project accounted for €3.3 million ($4.5 million U.S.) of the total €7 million ($9.5 million U.S.) investment, which does not include the cost of gaming equipment.

The Sunrise is a variation on the usual Olympic Casino themes of Greek mythology, tropical environs and the sea, which are found in most of the operator’s 127 gaming venues throughout Eastern and Central Europe.

U.S. casino interior expert David Kranes said of the company’s approach, “Olympic Casino interiors are winning interiors. They are both beautiful and emotional. Their sensuous and delight-promoting designs enable a strong experience and pleasure for their customers. They are, at the same time, contemporary and classical.”

The Sunrise was preceded in 2006 by the Voodoo Casino in the Reval Park Hotel in Riga, Latvia. In June 2008 Olympic will open its next major casino in Bratislava, Slovakia.