Inter-Act
Architect: M-Rad Studio
Client: Tony Hsieh
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Completion: TBD
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is at it again in downtown Las Vegas. As part of an ongoing effort to entice high-tech workers to the city’s historic core, his Downtown Project, which AN has covered before, now aspires to upend the live-work paradigm. The Inter-Act concept, designed by Matthew Rosenberg of M-Rad Studio, proposes two scenarios, both of which revolve around an explicit separation of live and work units. Whether housed in adjacent structures or a single tower, the two spaces would be far enough apart to require a walking commute through programmed communal spaces, including coffee shops, grocery stores, and spiraling ramps that take the place of enclosed stairways.
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Rosenberg, who conceived Inter-Act after meeting representatives of the Downtown Project at a tech conference, pointed out that building adjacent structures is a “middle ground” between contemporary commuting culture and a true live-work revolution. “The interesting idea here is scenario two (the towers),” he said. “It’s something that hasn’t been seen yet.”
Both Inter-Act iterations take the shipping container as their basic unit. “It’s not necessarily the most efficient way to go, but it would be a unique tower and a unique engineering feat,” said Rosenberg. “Hsieh likes that it’s something we don’t need to design—that frees us up to think about what’s really important.”
As for whether his proposal will become a reality, Rosenberg is uncertain. (Downtown Project staff did not respond to an email request for comment). “We did this concept, and it’s been presented to their team,” he said. “It’s not moving at a steady pace like a developer project.”