Las Vegas Weekly

December 15, 2008 · 2:29 PM

Bellagio waterfall and Mirage volcano mastermind has big plans for CityCenter … and elsewhere

By Robin Leach

The Mirage volcano makes its debut.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

If you think the dancing fountains at the Bellagio are pretty extraordinary, and if you think the new volcano at The Mirage is pretty awesome, you’d better hold on to your Webster’s because, as the song goes, “You ain’t seen nothing yet”!

Fire and water mastermind Mark Fuller, who is the co-founder and CEO of the amazing WET Design labs near Burbank Airport in Southern California, is ready to unleash even more incredible eye-sights when MGM’s CityCenter project is opened. And Mark is even planning the world’s first water spectacular that will cost a jaw-dropping $100 million! We’ll reveal where that will be at the end of this story!

I chatted with Mark after watching his newest spectacle -- the $25 million Mirage volcano -- erupt and explode for the very first time:

Robin Leach: Mark, when you take on a project like this, do you first look for the unique and the unusual?

Mark Fuller: Yes. When we approached this, one thing that has weighed on my mind is that we are in such a virtualized world, we all live on Twitter or Facebook, but the more we get into that virtual world, the more something inside of us here craves the real world. This is my antidote to virtualization. Back to the primitive nature. I think the more the world shifts one way, the more the human soul craves this.

RL: As large and as ambitious this project was, are you pleased with the way it all turned out?

MF: I am beyond pleased. There are some really tricky things going on here. We have to be responsible in terms of the world we live in, the energy that we are using. This uses less energy and has a less carbon footprint than the old volcano did, even though it looks 10 times bigger. There are myriad safety devices to make sure no one gets in the lake, and if they did, they couldn’t get hurt. All of these lights under water have a device that literally asks itself, ‘Am I lit?’ -- only then can they pop up.

RL: I bet there will be some rebel on New Year’s Eve who says let me see just how hot that is.

MF: We hoped we have satisfied that. Safety mechanisms are in place that would shut it down instantly. However, the heat is intense if you are standing in the right spot. You just aren’t going any closer even if you wanted to in whatever state you were in.

RL: Is this the largest and most ambitious project you have tackled so far?

MF: I am sure this is the largest fire institution on the planet. The Bellagio has the largest water show on the planet, and it is fun that they are within walking distance. That is the great thing about Vegas.

RL: What is next?

MF: We are working for CityCenter. I can’t tell you what is inside, but it will be mind-blowing.

RL: Bigger, louder than this volcano?

MF: It is not always about bigger; it is about going beyond. We have always worked in four dimensions, because time is one of ours. We are doing some work in the Middle East that does hold the scale for bigger, in Dubai. We are all over the place. We have done the elements -- fire, water, Earth -- but No. 1 is the human element. You will be blown away for what is being created for CityCenter, but that must remain top secret until it’s unveiled on opening day.

Mark, however, did reveal that he has a massive water fountain project on the boards for a Dubai island project that will be so huge, it will dwarf anything ever seen anywhere in the world.

He confided: “It’s the hotel that’s the tallest structure in the world. So high it goes right through the clouds. So high that from the top floor, you can see the curvature of Earth. Our fountains have to match that kind of size! It’s simply staggering, and people will talk about it forever when they see it.”

You can check out Mark’s Web site at www.wetdesign.com, but meantime CityCenter itself is all poised to deliver the most technologically advanced hotels in the world when it opens next year. In fact, so cutting edge, the guest rooms will actually remember you -- and all your personal preferences for lighting, TV, entertainment, curtains and temperature and all environmentally conscious!

MGM is promising an unrivaled custom automation guest experience in all 4,800 rooms of Aria, The Harmon and Mandarin Oriental that has no equal worldwide -- and with Internet access eight times faster than in any other hotel and no clock radios! If anything in the room needs maintenance, a device communicates with the engineers before you even notice something amiss!

“CityCenter is an extraordinary destination designed to exceed expectations in terms of architecture and sustainability to public art and amenities,” said Bobby Baldwin, president and CEO of CityCenter.

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