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At the peak of its 50^th anniversary, the Harrah College of Hospitality is ringing in the New Year with the opening of its state-of-the-art academic building, Hospitality Hall.

It’s UNLV’s newest building since Greenspun Hall opened in fall 2008.

Inspired by the atmosphere of a boutique hotel, the 93,500-square-foot Hospitality Hall was designed “for the industry, by the industry,” according to principal architect Michael Del Gatto of Carpenter Sellers Del Gatto Architecture. The firm used the hospitality world to tease out metaphorical counterparts in the academic space.

A dramatic wooden staircase, seen as you pass through the amber-tinted entrance, serves as the focal element that draws visitors in to lounge in the lobby; the advising and career service centers, situated on the first floor, serve as the college’s student concierge desk; a coffee shop and a golf store serve as retail space; and the classrooms/labs on subsequent floors represent ballrooms.

Here’s what went into the making of Hospitality Hall:

• Concrete poured: About 88,000 cubic feet (which is enough to build a five-foot-wide sidewalk 12.5 miles long)
• Steel used: 738 tons
• Longest piece of steel: 70 feet, 6 inches, and weighing more than eight tons
• Largest exterior panels: 12 feet long, four feet tall, and weighing 325 pounds
• Offices: 80
• Classrooms: 16
• Conference rooms: Four
• Cost: $59 million
• Private funding: $24 million
• LEED certification: Silver

The hospitality college invites the UNLV campus, alumni, donors, and community at-large to tour the building and mingle with educators, alumni, and industry partners at the Hospitality Hall Open House on from 4 to 7 p.m. Jan. 25. To register, visit unlvalumni.org/hospitality. Please RSVP by Jan. 21.