Federated state of the USA (286,352 km 2 with 2,600,167 inhabitants in 2008), extended on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. Capital Carson City. It takes its name from the Sierra Nevada which limits it to the West and borders to the north with Oregon and Idaho, to the east with Utah and Arizona, to the south and to the west with California. Agriculture (cereals, potatoes, sugar beets) is developed along the waterways (Humboldt, Carson, Walker etc.), exploited for irrigation. One of the main sources of wealth is tourism, favored by the legalization of gambling. According to abbreviationfinder, Reno And Las Vegas are the most important and populous centers of the state.
Sold to the USA since Mexico in 1848 as part of California, it was then (1850) aggregated to Utah; established in an autonomous territory in 1861, in 1864 it was organized as a state.
According to countryaah, Nevada has the following main cities:
Carson City
City of the United States, capital of the state of Nevada, founded in 1858 and capital since 1861, so named in honor of Christopher Carson (1809-1868). It is located near the border with California, along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, in the picturesque Carson valley, 1420 m. on the sea, 20 km. east of Lake Tahoe (1897 masl). Although it is a fairly important market for gold and silver and the surrounding region is well cultivated, Carson has remained a small center of purely administrative importance (in fact it has a federal palace and other similar buildings); this character has indeed been accentuated in recent years: he had 3950 residents in 1890, 2100 in 1900, 466 in 1910, and only 1640 in 1920.
Las Vegas
City of the United States, located in the state of Nevada (518,300 residents In 2003, 1,750,000 residents The urban agglomeration in 2005). The legendary gambling capital of the world stands in the middle of an extensive desert plain surrounded by high mountains; the Hoover Dam, a large dam commissioned by the Roosevelt administration and built in 1935 by J. Savage, which intercepting the Colorado River determines Lake Mead, a large artificial lake about 40 miles away from the city, supplies it with water and electricity, making their existence possible.
A century after its foundation, the urban structure is clearly identified by two main axes: the first, Las Vegas Boulevard – called The strip – crosses the city from south to north-east; the second, Charleston Boulevard, cuts it from east to west. A collection of spectacular hotels and casinos, open day and night, compete to capture the attention of tourists. At night, Las Vegas Boulevard, in particular, is transformed into a dazzling sequence of colossal electronic luminous signs, behind which the architecture dissolves, receding to the role of pure physical support.
The city, due to its peculiar characteristics, has aroused the interest of scholars of architecture and urban planning: among the most significant books, we note Learning from Las Vegas by R. Venturi, D. Scott-Brown and S. Izenour of 1972, which links the image of the city to pop culture.
In recent years Las Vegas has changed a lot, just think that since the 1970s the population has increased considerably and, in particular, in the 1990s, growth was the fastest in the United States. The tourist offer has combined the traditional gambling market reserved for adults with proposals aimed at families and often modeled on the theme parks of Walt Disney.
From an architectural point of view, an attempt was also made to give the city a less ephemeral and commercial image, experimenting with languages in line with the more advanced ones or seeking its own independent cultural dimension, linked to climatic conditions and local materials. Two examples that are part of an extensive neighborhood public library program can be ascribed to this latter trend: A. Predock’s Las Vegas Library / Lied Discovery Museum (1990) and the Clark County Library and Performing Arts Center (1994) by M. Graves. While one of the best examples to illustrate the attempted architectural update is the City Hall (2002), the complex that houses the municipal administration designed by the DMJM H&N studio. Among the most conspicuous commercial interventions is the Fremont Street Experience (1995), a shopping center designed by the Jerde Partnership studio that was welcomed by a great success with the public. Also interesting are the many works carried out by architects such as Holmes Sabatini Associates and Tate & Snyder. Among the most interesting interiors are two restaurants designed by the Californian studio Morphosis: the Tsunami Asian Grill (1999) and the Lutece (2000). Finally, the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum (2001), designed by Rem Koolhaas / OMA inside the Venetian Casino Resort entirely in cor-ten steel, whose exhibition activity stems from the close collaboration of the Guggenheim and Hermitage museums in St. Petersburg. Among the most recent projects is the Wynn, a 45- storey hotel complex designed by Jerde Partnership in association with Butler / Ashworth Architects: inaugurated in 2005, it offers the first 18- hole golf course in the area of the very central Strip.
