This week

摘要

At this year's Venice Architecture Biennale I shared a vaporetto with an elderly American couple. How, I asked, did they like Venice? It was 'okay' but 'We much prefer the version back home.' They were talking about Las Vegas1 Venetian resort. As well as its own Great Sphinx of Giza, Las Vegas has canals, a Rialto Bridge and a campanile. Clark County's version is cleaner, more compact and well - more friendly. For decades, Las Vegas and Venice have drawn architects to them as objects of study, critique and inspiration, almost to the point of tedium. They're both deeply weird, fascinating cities, tied by the problem of water - too much and too little.