Venetian Macao
Macau

LEAD ARCHITECT: Aedas
OTHER DESIGNERS AND ARCHITECTS: HKS (interior design) and RTKL (retail)
COST: US$1.8 billion
TOTAL AREA: 10,500,000 square feet (980,000 square meters)
MICE SPACE: 1.2 million square feet
RETAIL SPACE: 1.6 million square feet
ROOMS & SUITES: 600

Soon after obtaining one of the concessions to operate casinos in Macau, Las Vegas Sands opened the Sands Macao property, utilizing a small footprint of land near the enclave’s ferry terminal with Hong Kong.

But the future of the company lies on the Cotai Strip, a large swath of land acquired by Las Vegas Sands further south on the peninsula.

The Venetian is the first of seven hotels and resorts to be built in the area, all owned by LV Sands with casino and entertainment facilities operated by the company. At 10,500,000 square feet, it’s the world’s second-largest building (after a tulip warehouse in Holland).

This “integrated resort” features more than one million square feet each of exhibit, meeting and retail space. The Venetian Macao reaches out to the mass market like no other casino resort had yet done in Macau.

While closely following the blueprint established at the Venetian in Las Vegas, the Macau version includes not one but three canals in the Grand Canal Shoppes, more meeting space than its Las Vegas cousin, and a wide-open gaming floor that dwarfs any other casino in Macau.

With a new ferry terminal delivering guests virtually to its doors, the Venetian Macao has truly changed the parameters of gaming in Macau.