A spectacular seasonal spectacle

By WP BrandStudio

December 13, 2018

How MGM National Harbor brings its massive art installations to life

This season, the Conservatory at MGM National Harbor is pure holiday fantasy. Towering Christmas trees sit among thousands of red and white poinsettias and oversized glass ornaments. Every evening, a light show casts different colors and patterns across the 15,000-square-foot space, synchronized to modern holiday music.

“It’s monumental. I’ve seen lots of pictures on the internet of guests walking around the Conservatory, and they look so tiny [compared to the display],” said Ed Libby, an experienced event planner and designer who oversees installations for both MGM National Harbor and the famed Conservatory at Bellagio Las Vegas.

As a signature focal point of MGM National Harbor, the Conservatory must “captivate the public’s interest,” said Libby. The space—among the most Instagram-ed locations throughout MGM Resorts International—features five new installations per year. A Lunar New Year showcase celebrating The Year of the Pig opens on January 11, for example, while a Cherry Blossom design will be revealed on March 16. After snapping photos, guests can explore curated experiences around the resort that complement each seasonal installation, from cocktails at Lobby Bar and desserts at Bellagio Patisserie to spa treatments at The Spa and Salon.

While they are enormous and extravagant, the installations are also intricately composed. Three kidney-shaped beds combine props with flowers and plants to convey a theme, such as the current Holiday Memories and Modernism display. But creating an installation that wows guests while expressing a point of view isn’t easy: It takes a collaborative effort and meticulous attention to detail, from initial idea through production and installation.

The idea phase

The creative process starts with Libby, an experienced event planner and designer who also oversees installations for the Conservatory at Bellagio Las Vegas. The floral component is always the principal point of an installation, while seasons influence themes. Last spring’s MGM National Harbor display, for example, featured a Cherry Blossom Festival-inspired scene with 26,000 fresh pink blooms, including gardenias, dusty millers, and California ivies.

But the Conservatory also reflects the resort’s modern style and its unique art collection, which ranges from sculpture to collage and includes a found-object archway by Bob Dylan. In that vein, each installation is thought of as “an art piece that’s constructed from interesting ingredients,” said Libby. The spring display included butterflies dangling from the 85-foot glass atrium, while “Holiday Memories and Modernism” features snow-covered pines topped with shiny mosaic stars, and 40-foot-tall Polonaise-style ornaments. Guests often remark that their grandmother has the same decorations, according to Libby. “As modern as the display is, it’s also evoking beautiful holiday memories,” he said.

Another crucial part of his creative process is considering what guests will see from different vantage points. In addition to the Conservatory floor, installations are visible from the balcony on the mezzanine level, the casino and hotel entrances, and from the top of the resort escalators. Each view has to offer something different and compelling, so that whether a guest visits regularly or once per season “they’re blown away by the experience,” Libby said. With that in mind, he often tweaks future installations based on real-time feedback; designs are created up to a year in advance but are continually evolving based on guest reactions. “I constantly look on Instagram to see what people are photographing,” he said.

Ironing out the details

After Libby creates a desired look, he works with the Director of Horticulture to flesh out concepts; the planters are thought of as “a play in three acts” communicating one complete thought. They consider which materials to use, choosing natural items wherever possible, and aim to use materials in unconventional ways. A Bellagio autumn installation featured tigers made completely of seeds, coconut shavings, and other natural materials, for example. “Holiday Memories and Modernism” takes a more straightforward approach to botanicals because of the plants used; poinsettias are harder to keep alive in prop form, so the team planted them in beds where gardeners can easily tend to them.

There might be minor tweaks like removing a certain plant or adding a water feature, but once the concept is finalized, production kicks into high gear. The team begins interviewing builders and showing them the installation concept to find the best person for the job. With a contractor in place, a lengthy process of assessing engineer drawings and color palette samples begins. This season, for example, Libby and the team debated over the right shade of red for the ornaments, and how the gold on the ornaments speaks to the gold on the trees.

Production also involves a lighting crew, which not only determines colors and patterns for the display, but also helps put together a complementary score. The holiday light show is set to modern renditions of holiday songs to evoke the overall theme. Four times per night the overhead lights dim, the music changes, and the show begins, creating a theatre-like atmosphere. “We want to bring as many of the five senses into the Conservatory as possible,” Libby said.

Bringing the concept to life

Even the construction process has dramatic flair. The team works around the clock for seven days to remove the current display and build the new one, all while guests are in the hotel. “That’s one of the trickiest parts,” said Libby. “It’s almost like a theatrical presentation.” At the same time, it offers him a window into guests’ reactions to an installation, and a sense of whether the original vision is coming across.

The public might be unaware of the nuances of the design process—for instance, the reason behind using a certain color or pairing a particular song with the light display—but an installation must be “clear and understandable” to everyone, Libby said. Sometimes, that requires building text placards into an installation to offer guests more details, such as for the frog in the spring exhibit that featured several thousand pounds of lentils. “We do the floral component so well that people just think it’s beautiful colors, and they don’t realize what it’s actually made out of,” Libby said.

The installations are so stunning that families have been coming in with professional photographers to have their holiday portraits taken in front of the display. But as exciting as the response has been, Libby and his team are already knee-deep in planning next fall’s design, while putting the final touches on concepts for the upcoming Lunar New Year installation. “We have a beautiful Asian princess and all of her robes and garments are made completely out of flowers,” Libby said.

It’s that kind of special touch that makes the Conservatory essential to the resort experience, offering a place where guests can take a moment to reflect on the season. “This space in the hotel is dedicated purely for the enjoyment of the guests,” Libby said. “It’s just a beautiful place for people to relax.”