My very first project coming out of UCLA, was the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, with over 3,000 Keys, 6 Villas, and a BOH the size of a small town. The project took 3 years to design, had no budget, and the final cost was $1.6 B!
I then managed the design and construction of the Mirage Conference Center. Again, no budget, no deadline.
As I eventually joined the real world of architecture, I had a huge wakeup call. Working for various Developers on Hotels and Mixed-use projects, I found out that projects had Budgets! and Deadlines! and I finally learned the meaning of VE. Though I am excited to dive headfirst into any hospitality project that comes my way, I am eagerly waiting for the one project that would top my first.