Commercial Archives - David Marquardt Architectural Photography

2025 | Area 15 Zone 2

March 15, 2026/in Architecture, Commercial, What's New/by David Marquardt

KGA has delivered another stunning project; this time in the wild and playful canvas of Area 15.

In Fall of 2025 we had the chance to photograph “Zone 2” of Las Vegas’ now iconic Area 15. Set within one of the city’s most experimental creative spaces, the project pushes beyond traditional commercial design and leans fully into spectacle, texture, and experience. The exterior acts as a visual gateway—bold, graphic, and intentionally unconventional—setting the tone before you ever step inside.

From a photography standpoint, the structure is all about contrast and rhythm. Angular forms, layered materials, and dramatic scale create endless moments to play with light, shadow, and perspective. KGA’s collaboration in executing the dramatic and playful exterior space shows their range in understanding the needs of their clients. The open space of Zone 2 amplifies the identity of Area 15—immersive, futuristic, and unapologetically indifferent to critique.

Photographing Zone 2 was fun photographic jaunt through yet another KGA masterpiece. Translating the energy and color of the space had to happen at night–when the party is in play. This meant a lot of sky replacement in post-production to give the otherwise dull blank sky a little vibrancy to match the art. Hopefully we crafted still images that reflect the dynamic and surreal feeling of a space which seems constantly in motion.

2025 | ABC Store, Las Vegas Boulevard

March 1, 2026/in Architecture, Commercial, Exteriors and Landscape, What's New/by David Marquardt

Honolulu-based ADM Architecture + Interiors called us in late summer of 2025 to help produce images of their most recent project: an ABC Store with a two-story storefront smack dab in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard.

A photo shoot like this comes with its challenges. The locals and tourists who frequent the Strip don’t typically look as tidy and well-crafted as the architecture at hand, so timing was key. To capture both the store’s location and its exterior lighting elements, we had to start early—3:30 AM early—to prepare for the break of twilight, which in Vegas happens just before 5:00 AM at that time of year. Beyond the clock, there was a host of distractions to wrestle with: a concrete traffic barrier, copious power lines, constant traffic, construction, and competing branding everywhere you looked. With careful timing, keen navigation of traffic, optimal use of a narrow time frame, and a good deal of photo editing, we were able to tame a challenging environment and produce a series of striking exterior images.

The interior, however, was the star of the show. Our objective was to highlight how ADM employed thoughtful design strategies and innovative products to create a fluid, functional, and beautiful retail space suitable for accommodating hordes of Vegas visitors. Ocean-like waves ripple through the ceiling panels, receding from the front of the store to the back like a shoreline. At the rear, a backlit halftone metal graphic of the Las Vegas sign anchors the space, while playful graphic prints line the walls, keeping the shop both tidy and fun.

Venues like this make the work of a photographer interesting, challenging, and ultimately, incredibly enjoyable.

AfterBeforeAfterBeforeAfterBeforeBeforeAfter

No before, just an extra detail shot.

2025 | Curo Pet Care Hospitals in Nevada

January 15, 2026/in Commercial, What's New/by David Marquardt

Starting in 2023 and continuing through 2025, we had the opportunity to photograph a series of Curo Pet Care veterinary hospitals, focusing on empty, architectural imagery that highlights how these spaces are designed to support both patients and the teams who work within them.

Without people or animals in the frame, the attention shifts to layout, light, materials, and flow—the elements that quietly shape the experience of a veterinary visit. Each hospital had a distinct personality, but all shared a sense of clarity and calm in their design.

The spaces were intentionally planned: clean sightlines, thoughtfully arranged exam rooms, efficient treatment areas, and welcoming reception spaces that feel organized rather than clinical. Photographing them unoccupied allowed the architecture to speak for itself, revealing how function and care intersect through design.

Natural and ambient light played a major role across the locations. From bright waiting areas to softly lit corridors, the lighting choices helped create environments that feel reassuring and practical—important qualities in medical spaces where comfort matters.

What stood out most was the balance between modern veterinary functionality and warmth. Materials, color palettes, and subtle design details kept the hospitals feeling approachable while maintaining the professionalism required in a clinical setting.

This project was a reminder that architecture is an essential part of care. Even when empty, these spaces reflect the values of the practices that use them—efficiency, compassion, and attention to detail. Photographing the hospitals in this way allowed us to document that foundation before the daily rhythm of patients and staff filled the rooms.

2021 | Hummer EV Launches at SEMA

January 1, 2026/in Commercial, Convention, Trade Show, Tradeshow, What's New/by David Marquardt

Hummer EV at SEMA 2021

Each October when SEMA comes to Vegas, there is a palpable buzz in the air. The Las Vegas Convention Center transforms into a mechanical playground, humming with innovation, competition, and pure automotive obsession. There’s also a significant amount of burned rubber hanging in the atmosphere—especially in the Gold Lot, where tire smoke and exhaust notes feel as much a part of the experience as the badges on the hoods. It’s an annual pilgrimage for car lovers, builders, and brands alike.

Even in mid-pandemic 2021, with lingering anxiety and uncertainty surrounding massive in-person gatherings, that familiar SEMA energy refused to disappear. Attendance looked different, masks were common, and conversations carried an undercurrent of caution—but fuel was still pumping through the veins of enthusiasts wandering the halls of the LVCC. The passion for performance, design, and innovation proved stronger than the circumstances, reminding everyone why SEMA remains such a cultural anchor in the automotive world.

That said, no fuel was pumping at the unveiling of Hummer EV, though. In a striking departure from its roots, the historic, fuel-consuming, military-gone-civilian beast reemerged as a fully electric, gas-less, and unapologetically modern machine. Once synonymous with excess and brute-force power, the Hummer’s transformation into an EV felt both surreal and symbolic—a clear sign of how rapidly the industry is evolving. We had the opportunity to photograph the exhibit, capturing this moment where legacy met reinvention.

Showcased in the then-brand-new West Hall, GMC’s presentation made a deliberate and confident statement. A generously-sized video display acted as backdrop, looping dramatic visuals that emphasized capability and scale, while the clean, open, and navigable layout encouraged guests to move freely around the vehicle. Attendees could view the Hummer EV from every angle, including beneath it—an intentional nod to its engineering and rugged underpinnings. The minimalist design of the booth allowed the vehicle itself to take center stage, letting its presence speak louder than any spec sheet ever could.

We also wanted to include a couple other notable exhibits from the show we has the opportunity to shoot:

As we move into 2026, we’ll continue sharing our 2025 work while revisiting and catching up on stories from 2022–2024, helping tell a fuller story of the photography that’s shaped our last few years.

Pedestrian Grade Separation Construction Photography

August 1, 2019/in Commercial, What's New/by David Marquardt

A “pedestrian grade separation” is a wordy term for a footbridge, a crosswalk, a flyover–which over a street like Las Vegas Boulevard, is a very valuable thing. Combine a street with perpetual gridlock with a sea of sometimes sober sightseers and you concoct a cocktail for catastrophe. So one of the most worthwhile city investments on the Strip for safety and efficiency could be to keep walkers away from rollers.

Building a footbridge over one of the busiest and most famous streets in the world is no small task though. There are considerations for safety, traffic, and a need not to disrupt the business of fun on the strip.

Granite Construction recently commissioned us to capture some progress photos of their project to build an elevated crosswalk from the Park MGM to the Hard Rock Café–over the busy, and functioning, Las Vegas Strip. Since the work crews are not allowed by the city to work on the Strip during midday, we starting shooting around 6:00AM and took advantage of the early morning light (and cooler temperatures.) Our task was to capture the progress of the build, the process of the build (to be used in future proposals), and to secure some shots of the crew themselves. Take a look!

Raiders Preview Center

May 7, 2019/in Architecture, Commercial, What's New/by David Marquardt

There’s a lot of anticipation surrounding the arrival of the Raider in Las Vegas next year. As the new stadium is being built, the Raiders are getting Las Vegans excited and selling suites at the Raiders Preview Center in nearby Town Square. Downstream, a Portland-based experience designer, created the space, including a mock-up suite, interactive video screens, a detailed miniature of the stadium, and an array of Raiders memorabilia from the stadium. A beautifully designed space in black, white, a silver, it is a great way for locals to preview the team’s arrival and get a sneak peek at what the massive construction project just off the I-15 nearby Mandalay Bay is working to produce.

An incredibly challenging space to shoot, it places black against white indiscriminately and creates incredible challenges of contrast and color with splashes of light from incandescent, video, and colored sources.

Have a look at a few photos we were commissioned to put together to showcase the space:

Hoover Dam Visitor Center Renovation

April 5, 2019/in Architecture, Commercial, What's New/by David Marquardt

The Hoover Dam visitor’s center, built in 1995, has welcomed visitors from all over the world for over 20 years. But the much-visited structure had begun to show its age in style and wear–that is until a winter renovation recently concluded. The dark copper and earth-toned interiors have given way to white terrazzo flooring, stainless-steel accents, and a new color palette of azure, orange, grey and white. The once caliginous space now beams with LED and natural light which is bounced about by the building’s bright new color scheme. From the cash registers to the restrooms, the new building feels bright and welcoming. Opening just a few weeks ago on March 10th, the new design makes revisiting the Dam a great springtime activity–especially if it has been a few years (say twenty) since you’ve been.

We had the chance to shoot the newly redesigned facility and it was quite the privilege. Shooting a space which so many have–and will yet–visit from all over the world feels fun. Just being near the massive edifice of concrete and steel that is the Hoover Dam engages explorer mode in a human being and makes you feel awe and wonder at both the achievement of the builders a century ago and at the sheer size and beauty of the jagged canyon in which it was so arduously erected. Even while working, it felt a bit like being on vacation.

While no work was performed on the exterior, we wanted to make sure that the commissioning clients Atherton Construction, TSK Architects, the Bureau of Reclamation and Top End Constructors came away with an image of the exterior to be able to show the dramatic location of their stellar renovation work.

One Stunning Office Building in Summerlin

December 1, 2018/in Architecture, Commercial, Exteriors and Landscape, Interior Design, What's New/by David Marquardt

4:30AM must qualify as one of the most horrible and unpopular hours of the day. Great things don’t happen at 4:30. Even for a town like Las Vegas, by 4:30 most of the fun has already happened, and for anyone else awake at that hour, it either means you have a new baby or you have a cruel employer. But on occasion, a very early hour lends itself to some great photos.

VCC, the contractor tasked with building the Two Summerlin office building in Downtown Summerlin, just across from Red Rock Casino, needed some great portfolio images of the brand-new beautiful building just completed. Since we wanted to shoot the space at a dramatic twilight hour but dusk put the setting sun directly behind the building creating less-than-flattering light. Consequently, we opted to shoot at dawn, putting us at the site at the aforementioned unsavory hour.

What’s more, shooting the building from the ground simply didn’t do justice to the stunning new edifice. From the adjacent parking garage, one is too close to shoot the full building–even with a wide-angle lens. So we enlisted the help of a scissor lift atop the parking structure to allow us to both move back and move up to capture a beautiful perspective of the new tower.

Start on the third floor of a parking structure and go up another 20 feet in a scissor lift and some great perspectives result.

We also shot the small, but beautiful elevator lobby, the restrooms and the elevator as well, and we thought the photos are certainly worthy of posting.

This final shot is a personal favorite; though the building isn’t centered, nor is the whole structure within the frame, it splits the building and distant Vegas lights nicely and distinctly places the tower in its neon-desert environment.

US Bureau of Reclamation

October 5, 2018/in Architecture, Commercial, Exteriors and Landscape, Interior Design, What's New/by David Marquardt

Workers hoping to get a job on the massive Boulder Dam (now called Hoover Dam) began setting up squatters camps near the chosen work site in 1930. These camps of prospective dam workers might be called the first citizens of Boulder City–a town assembled specifically to house the administration and workforce of the largest public works project in American history. Boulder City was built in a triangular shape and at the peak was the Bureau of Reclamation Administration Building, overlooking the town on one side and the subsequent lake which would be formed by the Dam’s construction. The Administration Building oversaw the successful completion of the Dam and continued to house those overseeing both the operation of the dam and the management of the resources it provided. For nearly ninety years the Administration Building operated without a major renovation–until in 2018 when the Bureau of Reclamation finally completed a full and long overdue restoration of the historic Administration building at 1200 Park in Boulder City.

Upon completion of the restoration, the US Bureau of Reclamation gave us the fantastic opportunity this summer to photograph the building in its fully-restored grandeur. From its iconic exterior to the bathrooms inside, nearly everything was redone, and nearly everything was photographed. Over two days we shot the carefully reconditioned structure both inside and out and delivered over 100 images of the beautiful new environment in which the employees of the Bureau of Reclamation now work. Below are a few samplings of the images we captured in this great project.

While in the previous exterior photo we enhanced the building with some supplemental lighting, we also included some much more natural images in the end bundle. The dramatic skies at dusk here are no sky replacement and all the light is ambient, giving a fairly perfect idea of what the building looks like on a long August night.

The conference room acts as both a normal meeting space, but can also double as a command center in times of crisis. We wanted to capture this particular space both in daytime, with all its natural light and at night to showcase its abundant and modern lighting.

In multiple parts of the building the preexisting materials were kept to echo the building’s historic roots. Here we see some exposed brick kept in a Bureau restroom.

On the tastefully restored patio the unique placement of the Administration can be appreciated as one can peer down upon Lake Mead, the child of the Boulder Dam Project, which delivers water and electricity to Las Vegas and numerous western states.

Commercial Real Estate Photography 2018

August 14, 2018/in Commercial, What's New/by David Marquardt

We’ve had the chance to shoot medical properties for Ensemble Real Estate for years and this summer, we were able to capture images of their the new Henderson Medical Plaza next to Henderson Hospital. A clean and modern space, the new facility posed nicely for some beautiful marketing. Starting at dawn, we were able to capture all the images they requested in less than two hours–with no disruptions to their normal operating schedule. We hope you like the photos!