Officials from the Cowlitz Indian Tribe have been conferring with landscape architects from Lifescapes International, Inc. regarding the tribe’s planned cultural center, casino and hotel on its new reservation land near La Center, Washington. The tribe hired the Newport Beach, California-based firm to design the casino’s overall landscaping as well as the look of traffic roundabouts that will be built on either side of Interstate 5 to accommodate the expected increase in traffic. The firm has worked with the Bellagio Casino, Red Rock Casino Resort and many other high-end properties.
Mike Meyers, Lifescapes’ principal landscape architect on the project, said, “The roundabouts will be the jewels of this whole package. We will use native plants and we strongly believe that this should look organic, not contrived. We want to take the ideas that we’re working on for the casino, sort of burnished, organic, natural, but maybe a little contemporary, and bleed it into the landscape on the traffic roundabouts, so that they become a gateway that celebrates the town as much as the casino. We want the materials and the landscape to say, ‘Welcome, you’re home.’”
The designers showed city councilors some preliminary sketches for a “Welcome to La Center” sign of burnished metal, to be placed in the roundabouts facing visitors exiting I-5 and heading toward the town. The sign would be backlit to give a feeling of warmth, Meyers said.
La Center City Councilor Al Luiz said he liked the concept, but was concerned that the roundabout designs leading into the city are the same as the casino’s proposed design. “I don’t want the entrance to our town to look like the entrance to the casino. It needs to be complementary, but not a replica,” Luiz said. Meyers responded the design would be cohesive and unite the two areas–the reservation land to the west of the interstate and the town of La Center on the east.
Despite legal challenges to the proposed 134,000 square foot casino, the tribe hopes to begin construction by the end of this year. Work on the roundabouts, the new I-5 exits and overpass bridge could begin in early 2016.
