Architect bids farewell to iconic Mirage, heralds new era with Hard Rock Las Vegas

Las Vegas (KSNV) — As an entertainment, gaming, and hospitality architect with creations throughout Las Vegas and worldwide, Paul Steelman said helping to create 'The Mirage' helped shape his career.

Steelman worked alongside, Joel Bergman, the main architect for '' to bring Steve Wynn's vision of the casino to life.

"Now, it's nearly 38 years ago we started to design The Mirage," Steelman said. "It was more than a building, it was something we dedicated our lives to for four years to every single day for four years whether it be the design of a certain piece to it, the detailing of it."

Creating Wynn's masterpiece was unlike anything Steelman had worked on at the time.

He said one of Wynn's main visions was to ensure guests felt like they weren't just at another casino, but instead felt like they entered an oasis.

"Nowhere in Las Vegas before you would walk in and there would be craps tables there or there would be a small lobby and then there would be a casino but in this particular facility we said 'no you are not in a casino you are in this beautiful tropical engineered place that made you feel good about yourself' and that is what it was for so many years."

Now after attracting guests from all over the world. is bittersweet for Steelman.

But as the globally known architect says, the Strip is always evolving.

Come 2027, the location is expected to be the site of something new, '.'

"When they bring it to life, Las Vegas will have something new and that is what Las Vegas is about, it's not about the old, it's about the new," he said.