Las Vegas Museum of Art
Las Vegas
Cultural
Ca. 5.500 square meters
Ongoing
Francis Kéré, Kéré Architecture
Joshua Greene, Melissa Weigel
Teresa del Arenal, Dominic Dudley, Max Gerber, Ben Hansen,Nabil Haque, Ho-Jae Lee, Federico Lenghi, Mariona Maeso Deitg, Andrea Maretto, Beatrice Mazzucco, Pablo Sanchez Sanus, Jonathan Wiedemann, Zeno Wolfsteiner
Architect of Record: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Structural Engineering and Facade: AKT II
Engineer of Record: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
MEP Engineering and Sustainability: ME Engineers
Cost Consulting: Directional Logic
Lighting: L’Observatoire International
Fire Life Safety: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
AV, IT, and Low Voltage: Jaffe Holden
Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA)
The Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) will be the city’s first freestanding art museum and a new cultural landmark in Downtown Las Vegas. Designed by Kéré Architecture, the museum reflects the studio’s commitment to architecture that responds thoughtfully to place, community, and the natural environment.
Guided by the late Elaine Wynn’s vision, LVMA will partner with LACMA to serve Las Vegas’s diverse, year-round population of over two million residents, as well as the city’s many visitors. Spanning approximately 5,500 square meters, the museum celebrates Las Vegas’s rich cultural heritage, character, and desert landscape, and is envisioned to revitalize the role of the arts across the greater Las Vegas area.
Located in Symphony Park, on the ancestral lands of the Southern Paiute people and the historic Union Pacific rail yard, the museum balances sculptural presence with openness and accessibility. It integrates elements of the Las Vegas Valley’s natural landscape into the urban fabric, offering a moment of calm within the city’s buzzing environment.
The building is conceived as a living tree—rooted in place, made of regenerative materials, and responsive to the desert climate. Drawing inspiration from the Mojave Desert and the Valley of Fire, the façade employs locally sourced stone that shields the interior from harsh solar radiation, wrapping the structure in the warm tones of the surrounding Red Rock Mountains.
The museum houses two levels of exhibition space above a flexible lobby, which opens onto a large open-air plaza that flows seamlessly into the adjacent sculpture park. This plaza, envisioned as a “front porch,” serves as a gathering place for the community. A large canopy shades the plaza, while the recessed ground floor provides a second layer of protection for visitors. Transparent glazing creates an inviting threshold, welcoming both seasoned art audiences and first-time visitors. From the upper gallery, a triangular window provides a moment of connection for visitors with the shaded sculpture plaza below.
At the heart of the museum is the canyon staircase, a sculptural element that guides visitors from the ground floor to the upper galleries while connecting them to the sky through a large skylight that bathes the galleries in soft, indirect light. Constructed in red-toned concrete, the canyon functions both metaphorically as the building’s trunk and structurally as its stabilizing core.
The Las Vegas Museum of Art aspires to be a cultural icon for the city, honoring its past while shaping its future. By fostering inclusivity and curiosity, the museum will strengthen connections between art, community, and place, standing as a testament to Las Vegas’s commitment to cultural enrichment, education, and creativity.
The Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) will be the city’s first freestanding art museum and a new cultural landmark in Downtown Las Vegas. Designed by Kéré Architecture, the museum reflects the studio’s commitment to architecture that responds thoughtfully to place, community, and the natural environment.
Guided by the late Elaine Wynn’s vision, LVMA will partner with LACMA to serve Las Vegas’s diverse, year-round population of over two million residents, as well as the city’s many visitors. Spanning approximately 5,500 square meters, the museum celebrates Las Vegas’s rich cultural heritage, character, and desert landscape, and is envisioned to revitalize the role of the arts across the greater Las Vegas area.
Located in Symphony Park, on the ancestral lands of the Southern Paiute people and the historic Union Pacific rail yard, the museum balances sculptural presence with openness and accessibility. It integrates elements of the Las Vegas Valley’s natural landscape into the urban fabric, offering a moment of calm within the city’s buzzing environment.
The building is conceived as a living tree—rooted in place, made of regenerative materials, and responsive to the desert climate. Drawing inspiration from the Mojave Desert and the Valley of Fire, the façade employs locally sourced stone that shields the interior from harsh solar radiation, wrapping the structure in the warm tones of the surrounding Red Rock Mountains.
The museum houses two levels of exhibition space above a flexible lobby, which opens onto a large open-air plaza that flows seamlessly into the adjacent sculpture park. This plaza, envisioned as a “front porch,” serves as a gathering place for the community. A large canopy shades the plaza, while the recessed ground floor provides a second layer of protection for visitors. Transparent glazing creates an inviting threshold, welcoming both seasoned art audiences and first-time visitors. From the upper gallery, a triangular window provides a moment of connection for visitors with the shaded sculpture plaza below.
At the heart of the museum is the canyon staircase, a sculptural element that guides visitors from the ground floor to the upper galleries while connecting them to the sky through a large skylight that bathes the galleries in soft, indirect light. Constructed in red-toned concrete, the canyon functions both metaphorically as the building’s trunk and structurally as its stabilizing core.
The Las Vegas Museum of Art aspires to be a cultural icon for the city, honoring its past while shaping its future. By fostering inclusivity and curiosity, the museum will strengthen connections between art, community, and place, standing as a testament to Las Vegas’s commitment to cultural enrichment, education, and creativity.
