City preview · LAS VEGAS
In 1905, a railroad company divided a patch of desert into blocks and auctioned the lots beneath a canvas tent. More than a century later, roads cross the western alluvial fan, while houses trace the southern hillsides. An old warehouse hides a false supermarket, with rooms and secret doors behind the shelves. At these four stops, you can see people turn desert ground into streets and use hillsides and warehouses as material for the city's next act.
4 web previews 108 stories in the app
From desert lots to a false supermarket
Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.
01 · Las Vegas 1905 Townsite
Las Vegas has an exact date when its town lots went on sale.
On May 15, 1905, the railroad company auctioned lots in its new townsite. Buyers first competed for parcels along Fremont Street. City archives treat the sale as Las Vegas’s founding moment, giving the city an opening day down to the date. The grid near Main and Fremont still follows the angle of the railroad land.
Source: files.lasvegasnevada.gov Source: hmdb.org
02 · South Hualapai Way & West Charleston Boulevard
Travel east from here and the road keeps dropping.
Storms leaving the Spring Mountains carry mud and water through canyon mouths, spreading both across the valley as alluvial fans. Major west-side roads cross these broad slopes, so a drive east from the foothills descends continuously. Look back and shallow channels radiate from the mountains like ribs. The street grid rests on an enormous geological fan.
Source: pubs.usgs.gov Source: usgs.gov
03 · Reunion Drive & Anthem Parkway
The mountain has been cut into saleable tiers of houses.
Anthem climbs the hills along Henderson’s southern edge. Roads curve with the contours, while retaining walls cut the slopes into residential terraces. Climb Reunion Drive and one line of roofs rises and falls; walls keep emerging beside the road. The topography remains, reorganised into levels where houses can stand.
Source: cityofhenderson.com Source: en.wikipedia.org
04 · AREA15
An industrial warehouse district hides a supermarket that is not a supermarket.
AREA15 occupies industrial warehouses, using their height and windowless boxes for immersive installations. Omega Mart disguises its entrance as a supermarket, then connects the shelves to rooms, secret doors, and narrative devices. Outside remain trucks, warehouses, and broad parking ground. The black cube turns the most ordinary retail action into cover for entering another world.
Source: area15.com Source: meowwolf.com
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