Background
Steelman was born on September 23, 1955 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His father and mother were both architects.
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 University in 1977.
And in 2011 rated his company as the 56th largest American architectural firm. He was employed by Wasleski Steelman, the city of Atlantic City, and the Golden Nugget, Incorporated./Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Mirage Companies. In 1987 he founded his own firm.
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 Philosophy 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. 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.
Steelman"s firm has employed architects who later founded their own architecture firms, such as Gemie Knisely 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.