From OIGA: Deidre Brady's 'Mastering the Build' Session Recap
Plan Your Vision. Anticipate Change.
By Deidre Brady, AIA, NCIDQ, LEED AP BD+C, Principal, HBG Design
Casino resort projects are moving forward in an environment where construction costs, financing, supply chains, labor availability, and operational priorities can shift quickly. While owners cannot predict every change, effective casino resort project planning can help them prepare for it.
During my recent presentation at the OIGA Conference & Trade Show, entitled 'Mastering the Build', I focused on three strategies for navigating uncertainty while protecting long-term project value:
- Establish a clear vision,
- Proactively plan for change, and
- Optimize casino design and project delivery efficiencies.
Start with a Long-Term Casino Resort Vision
Successful casino resort development begins by defining what success means for the owner and the property. Is the priority to open as quickly as possible, generate revenue earlier, maintain budget certainty, minimize guest disruption, improve operational efficiency, or create the highest-quality resort in the region?
Most projects balance several of these goals. Establishing their relative importance early gives the team a shared framework for making decisions when schedule, budget, quality, and operational considerations compete.
A long-term casino resort master plan connects those priorities to future amenities, infrastructure, circulation, operations, and expansion opportunities. Even when the full vision cannot be delivered at once, the development can be organized into achievable phases, with each investment supporting future growth.
Create a Proactive Plan for the Unexpected
Market demand, funding, budgets, supply chains, and operational needs may evolve throughout design and construction. Proactive planning creates options for responding without losing momentum or compromising the long-term vision.
Phased casino development, early procurement, and fast-track project delivery can help owners advance high-value components sooner. These strategies also require timely decisions and close coordination across planning, design, documentation, procurement, and construction.
Optimize Casino Design and Delivery Efficiencies
Design efficiency is not simply about reducing square footage or initial construction cost. It is about helping the casino resort perform more effectively over time.
Thoughtful planning can streamline operations, improve employee workflows, strengthen the guest experience, and allow spaces to adapt as market needs change. Addressing these priorities early can also reveal shared-service opportunities, infrastructure requirements, and operational efficiencies before they become expensive to implement.
Assemble the Right Casino Project Team from Day One
Ultimately, the right team creates the most successful outcome. Bringing ownership, operations, casino design, construction, financial, and technical experts together from day one allows us to identify risks, test assumptions, and make informed decisions while the greatest range of options remains available.
When the project team aligns around a clear vision, change becomes more manageable, decisions become more purposeful, and the casino resort is better positioned to deliver lasting value—from opening day through every phase of future growth.
GGB Casino Style Magazine Features Rock & Brews Casino
Located in North Central Oklahoma, HBG’s ‘Agrarian-Industrial’ Architectural Aesthetic for the Premier Rock & Brews Casino and Restaurant gets a ‘KISS’ of Approval
The first ever Rock & Brews Casino and Restaurant opened for business in Braman, OK, EXIT 231 on I-35, in North Central Oklahoma, on May 10, 2022. The project features an expertly curated interactive rock-inspired entertainment experience that only Rock & Brews–and its co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of iconic rock band, KISS–can provide; and a distinctive ‘agrarian-industrial’ architectural and interior design by national Top 5 casino design firm, HBG Design.
Owned by the gaming entity of Oklahoma’s Kaw Nation and developed in partnership with Rock & Brews, the project is a 67,000 square foot expansion and 4,000 square foot renovation to the Kaw Nation’s existing casino operation. The new branded casino and restaurant thoroughly delivers on Rock & Brews’ promise for a high-octane experience.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
The brilliant entertainment is wrapped in distinctive contemporary architecture by HBG Design. The exterior design visually ties into the highly structural barn buildings found in the surrounding rural Oklahoma locale.
The 71,000 SF exterior geometry is animated by gable pitched rooflines, and ribbed metal, wood and glass materiality. and features a six-panel sliding glass door that opens to provide indoor/outdoor Rock and Brews restaurant dining and access to a grand event lawn.
A COHESIVE INTERIOR PALETTE SERVES AS CANVAS FOR BOLD ROCK & ROLL ELEMENTS
The Rock & Brews brand and venues are noted for their heavy integration of rock and roll imagery and iconography. HBG Design’s overall interior design palette became an ideal canvas for these bold elements. The design palette helps achieve visual cohesion from the existing casino to the new casino expansion area. Reds, grays and purples give an edginess to the vibrant walls and patterned carpeting. A mix of color, pattern and texture complement the design intent.
Determination of the appropriate music-related graphics and design implementation within the gaming areas was a team collaboration between Rock & Brews, Kaw Nation and HBG Design.
Across the casino and restaurant, murals of rock bands and performers–including a large KISS mural–adorn the walls and ceilings, lending a casual rocker lair vibe. Guitar fret patterns are etched into columns. Vinyl records with names of recording artists add dimension and variation to the floor patterns at the Grab and Go. A cymbal-look ceiling element hangs overhead.
Ceiling elements help with wayfinding between the first ever Rock & Brews Casino gaming floor and Oklahoma’s first ever Rock & Brews restaurant. A large guitar pick inscribed with The Beatles’ logo and band member signatures looms above the brick rotunda entryway to the Rock & Brews bar and restaurant. The host stand is created from identifiable “roadie boxes” with a backdrop art piece crafted from industrial metal chains to add true rock and roll ambiance.
To maintain the authentic brand experience that Rock & Brews restaurant and bar is known for, the design team consulted the company’s brand manager for in-depth guidance on the specific, and proven, layout, finishes and materials required in the entry, bar and dining room designs.
Inside the large, vaulted Rock & Brews brewhouse, practically every inch of ceiling space is covered with theatrical banners and backlit framed graphics showcasing signature rock and roll graphics. The graphics are framed by a dramatic performance stage lighting truss hanging from the pitched ceiling, painted the signature Rock & Brews branded red. Colorful murals enliven brick walls. Plank wood-effect tile helps subdue and contemporize the floor plane around the dining and bar areas.
The new Rock & Brews Casino rock and roll vibe fully immerses guests in a concert style environment and high-quality audio and visual experiences, all designed to celebrate the defining moments of rock n’ roll.
The Kaw Nation and Kaw Gaming, Inc., owner/operator of Southwind Casinos throughout Oklahoma, partnered with Rock & Brews to develop this premier Rock & Brews branded casino and restaurant. Rock & Brews co-founders, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, along with their other brand partners, restaurateur Michael Zislis and concert industry veterans Dave and Dell Furano, have opened Rock & Brews restaurants across California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri and Texas, and now Oklahoma.
