Born: September 23, 1955 (age 57), Atlantic City, NJ, USA
Nationality: American
Alma mater: Clemson University
Buildings: Sands Macau

Paul Curtis Steelman is an American architect based in Las Vegas, Nevada and Macau who is notable for designing casinos and entertainment venues. His firm designed the $240 million Sands Macau casino resort which was notable for going from "blueprint to opening in 600 days", building a reputation for rapid development sometimes referred to as "Sands speed." The project won praise for its "bright, airy design" and sunken stage which "allows everyone in the theater to get a spectacular view of the entertainment."According to Architectural Record, Steelman's firm had total revenue in 2006 of $30 million and design revenues of $35 million.and in 2011 rated his company as the 56th largest American architectural firm.

Beginnings
 

Sands Macau.
 

Steelman was born on September 23, 1955 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His father and mother were both architects. He graduated Atlantic City High School in 1973 and Clemson Universityin 1977. He was employed by WasleskiSteelman, the city of Atlantic City, and the Golden Nugget, Inc./MGM Mirage Companies. In 1987 he founded his own firm.

Career
 

The front attraction "volcano" erupts nightly at The Miragecasino.
 

Steelman worked on Steve Wynn's Mirage hotel which in 1989 became the first Strip hotel to focus on eating and entertainment in addition to gaming tables. Since then, he has worked on numerous projects, often in collaboration with casino developers. He has worked on architectural designs for the Four Seasons Hotel in Macao. He designed a new resort at Connecticut's Foxwoods.He designed projects such as the Steel Pier on the Atlantic City boardwalk. His projects include the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He worked on the building design for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. He designed a $350 million 22-story hotel resort and casino in San Diego, California.

Steelman worked for billionaire Phil Ruffin on designing the a 2,750-room casino called the Montreux, an entertainment property modeled after a Swiss-themed lakefront hotel which includes a 465-foot-tall observation wheel which "scoops riders from the floor above the casino," according to a report in Forbes Magazine. The design's interior was a "mix of glass artwork, waterfalls and reflective surfaces," similar to boutique hotels in New York or Los Angeles, according to a report in the Las Vegas Sun. Steelman's firm designed a $6.2 billion tourism development in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2010. A reporter commented on his design style:

Steelman is wiser than most when it comes to the logistics of moving gamblers through sin dens ... Steelman has, over the last 20 years, come up with 70-odd design rules to keep visitors in a gleeful state as they evenly spread their dollars among betting tables, shops, theaters and restaurants.                                                                       —reporter Matthew Miller in Forbes, 2006

One Steelman design invention was a sleek transformable ballroom inside a casino that can undergo several makeovers within a single day, enabling event organizers to use the space for different purposes, and transform it in less than two hours:

Hold a fashion show in the morning, a poker tournament in the afternoon and a boxing match at night. The ideal length for any spectacle in a casino is less than 90 minutes.        —reporter Matthew Miller in Forbes, 2006

Steelman's firm has employed architects who later founded their own architecture firms, such as GemieKnisely of GK3 and Kim Daoust and Jordan Bañares of Tandem.Steelman was featured in Asian Gaming annual publication entitled "Asian Gaming 50" as 32nd in 2008 and as 33rd in 2009.