(Photo: Chip East/Reuters)

Brad Pitt’s Howard Roark fixation was in full effect in the offices of the Related Companies recently, when the actor who would be an architect (he helped design his own home and has worked in some quasi-official capacity on some projects for Frank Gehry) showed up with his own Styrofoam “conceptual” models for Related’s casino-condo development in Las Vegas, called Las Ramblas. Pitt’s pals George Clooney and Rande Gerber are investors (and Pitt might become one). “It was a bit like a school project,” says a source familiar with the details of the meeting. Related’s spokesperson, Stephanie Wilson, insists there may be an opportunity for Pitt’s involvement down the line. (Related has already hired the architecture firm Arquitectonica.) Marty Burger, the president of Related Las Vegas, says, “We do not know yet if we can incorporate his concept into our project.”

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• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Beth Landman
• Table of Contents: October 24, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!