From 1995 to 2001, we were commissioned by the Oneida Indian Nation of New York to design a casino, cultural center, conference centre, theater and a 4-star hotel to provide accommodation for the patrons of their thriving new casino (which had opened the previous year in a shopping mall). The project needed to expanded around the shopping mall while the casino was in full operation, in order not to interfere with the profits totaling 1/2 million dollars a day.

The gaming floor was first expanded on the back side by a two storey 103,000 sq. ft. addition that includes a large bingo hall on the ground floor, and high society administrative facilities on the second level. This facility opened to the public in July, 1995.

The hotel was constructed on the front side of the site, containing 277 guest rooms. It also houses an indoor pool, spa and health club facility and shopping for the hotel guests, that opens up to an exterior patio during the summer.

Retail spaces are planned for the ground floor, including a 220 seat, 24 hour full service restaurant, an ice cream parlor, video arcade, hotel gift and sundries shops, and five additional retail outlets. Our design mandate also included the all the interior design & furniture design for the hotel, as well as interior fitups to the commercial shops, detailed programming and landscape design.

Because of the fast track process and unusual requests by the client. A vision session was adopted, outlining the optimal time lines, quality control and budget constraints to ensure that priorities were understood by all the parties, thereby establishing a consensual working method which all the professional disciplines could entrust and work within.