The fragility of both the desert and the communities which colonize it is apparent when one views Las Vegas, Nevada from the air. The Strip, Glitter Gulch, and the city form a thin, permeable membrane which keeps the desert marginally at bay. Where the desert relents, rectilinear grids of grass and asphalt parking prevail.
The Las Vegas Central Library and Children’s Museum are built at the cultural heart of the city where temporary Paiute shelters and later permanent Anglo-American settlements were sited. Visitors experience the library and children’s museum as desert building and civic monument. These overlays surface immediately in the Palm Court which signals shelter and convenient automobile access. From this area one follows the water course and sandstone wall to the entry.

Ceremonial elements of the complex impinge on this building forecourt: the conical Birthday Room, the Science Tower, and the Meeting Room. Access to these pieces is through the lobby fissure which delineates the programmatic bifurcation of the building — museum to the west and library to the east.
The Children’s Library physically bridges this architectural and conceptual break. Its blue sky metal vault spans from the massive landform of the two-level exhibition areas to the aggregated village form of the library below. The sandstone wedge which is lodged at the north end of the building houses the administrative areas of both the Museum and the Library District. From the shared Boardroom at the top level, visitors view a subtly intricate panorama. Fragments of mountain, desert, casinos, neighborhoods, and technology come into focus from perimeter openings. This visual confluence of nature, fantasy, urbanization, and science underscores the complexities of the desert environment and the task of making architecture responsive to its many faces.