The Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub at Las Vegas’ Cosmopolitan casino resort, which opened in late 2010, quickly vaulted to the top of Nightclub & Bar’s rankings of top U.S. nightclubs by annual revenue, tying XS at Steve Wynn’s Encore casino resort, also in Las Vegas, with annual revenues estimated to be in the $80 to $90 million range for 2012. But don’t let those Las Vegas palm trees fool you.
The desert climate may stay balmier through the winter months than the polar vortex-ravaged Midwest and Northeast, but not always by much. Snow usually arrives in the nearby mountains by Halloween, and cold winds often swirl about the Las Vegas Strip during the winter months in the valley below. As a result, Las Vegas’ dayclub craze is seasonal, going into hibernation for five months a year.
Instead of just complaining about having an expansive but under-utilized party space during the colder winter months, The Cosmopolitan and Marquee management opted to do something about it — they hired AG Lighting and Sound, the company behind the Mega Structure arches used at EDM events such as EDC in Las Vegas and the Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
AG Lighting and Sound rose to the challenge and, within a two-week span, a version of the company’s Mega Structure rose as well above the Marquee club’s pool area. The arched 125-by-180-foot structure is modified a bit from AG’s warm-weather festival structures, however. One side is supported 55 feet above the pool deck by the resort’s building, while the other descends via truss legs to walkways below the pool area.
Installing the structure was also a bit more complex than simply erecting an arch on an open portion of desert space near the Las Vegas ?
Motor Speedway for EDC. The pool area is 125 feet above Las Vegas’ street level, and the project required a portion of Harmon Boulevard near its intersection with the Las Vegas Strip to be closed during construction.
Inside the completed dome, visitors can feel like they’re in a comfortable climate during the winter. Although the pool is still typically closed to swimming, massive heaters, also provided by AG Lighting and Sound, keep the area at a comfortable 70° F.
This year, for the first time, New Year’s Eve revelers could look up and see Las Vegas’ fireworks displays without bundling up in heavy winter clothes. Insomniac Productions, the company behind the Electric Daisy Carnivals, also planned to stage the “first ever dayclub winter pool party” in mid-February.
In March, AG Lighting and Sound will return and remove the Mega Structure for the spring and summer event schedule. Immediately following the removal of the Mega Structure, the custom arch structure’s components will make their way to Indio, CA for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
