Scolds & Fines for SLS Starchitect Philippe Starck

When is an internationally renowned superstar architect and interior designer not embraced as an internationally renowned superstar architect and interior designer? When he's privately working on his next creation in Las Vegas.

Gallic genius Phillipe Starck was fined $24,075 for helping transform the forthcoming, $415 million SLS Las Vegas resort, set to debut this Labor Day weekend. The Nevada State Board of Architecture, Interior Design and Residential Design happened to notice, or were tipped off, that Starck was attaching his imprint throughout the hotel, remodeling more than 1,600 guest rooms and suites and was at the design tiller for his namesake Katsuya by Starck sushi restaurant. However, Nevada state law requires you file some important paperwork before undertaking a task of such magnitude.

Case No. 13-025N found Starck "held himself out as being qualified to practice architecture and registered interior design by engaging in the practice of architecture and registered interior design for two projects located in Nevada without having a certificate of registration issued by the board," resulting in an "administrative penalty" of $20,000. The fine was levied for the period Oct. 23, 2013, through Jan. 29, 2014.

Chapter 623 of the Nevada State Revised Statutes requires architects, registered interior designers or a residential designer apply for a board issued certificate before working in Las Vegas, for safety and regulatory purposes. For a few hundred dollars the board will review the applicant's credentials before stamping the appropriate fancy boilerplate.

The fine includes $4,075 for unspecified "investigative work." A curious figure given a $2 bus ride down the Strip would have led investigators to billboards proudly promoting Katsuya by Starck was indeed coming soon. Starck has paid the settlement and agreed to abide by the Chapter 623 statues.

Phillipe Starck's fingerprints were already on such local fixtures as the chandeliers at The View at the Palms and the initial master plan for Hyde Bellagio.
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