There are sports stadia and there are concert venues, many of which are large and impressive, some even hi-tech, but The Sphere in Las Vegas seems to fall into a category of its own. This otherworldly dome looks like something that has descended from the heavens, like an alien ‘wonder of the world’ that has come to visit. But what is it really?
Words Michel Cruz, Photography Wikimedia Commons, Shutterstock and Adobe Stock
There are sports stadia and there are concert venues, many of which are large and impressive, some even hi-tech, but The Sphere in Las Vegas seems to fall into a category of its own. This otherworldly dome looks like something that has descended from the heavens, like an alien ‘wonder of the world’ that has come to visit. But what is it really?
Words Michel Cruz, Photography Wikimedia Commons, Shutterstock and Adobe Stock
We’re used to a Las Vegas full of bright lights and glittering buildings that defy the common limitations of architecture and urban planning. I mean, a city that sports a replica Eiffel Tower, Egyptian Pyramid and Sphinx all within its centre is not a ‘normal’ place, but we knew that. Las Vegas is a fantasy capital and perhaps an even bigger source of inspiration for Dubai than New York has been. To stand out within this neon world is not easy, but there is one new addition that captures the eye and the attention from just about every angle.
The Sphere stands squarely in Paradise, just east of the famous Las Vegas Strip, from where it’s drawing all of the attention to it right now. By day this 157-metre wide and 112-metre high dome looks impressive enough, but it is when the lights come on that this thing begins to shine like no other. You see, where the surrounding resort hotels, casinos and commercial/leisure centres rely on bright lights and towering jets of illuminated water, The Sphere takes the concept of lighting up the town to a whole new dimension. In fact, at night it looks like a giant spaceship that has descended to earth – but a friendly one!
The difference is in the detail, as it is not individual lights or projected illumination that brings this baby to life, but the 54,000m2 of LED displays that span its rounded surface. Not only is their resolution stupendous and way beyond normal lighting, but it becomes the gigantic living, breathing canvas for digitally created artwork of any kind – from standing images and art to moving and evolving ones. The Sphere can therefore be anything you want it to be, from a giant advertising board to a commercial message or indeed a mesmerising visual display that is a work of art in its own right.
A Next-Generation Venue
In essence, however, The Sphere is a new generation of sports and concert venue the likes of which has not been seen or experienced before, and here the emphasis is really on the experience, as it is a showcase for next-gen technology whose visual and sound output has the power to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and more, much more. The 18,600 people who can fill this auditorium of auditoriums also have a 16k resolution wrap-around LED screen that covers its interior, not just outside. This is combined with beamforming speakers and wave field synthesis technologies to produce a fully immersive experience complete with 4D physical effects.
In other words, you’ll know when you’re watching scenes or hearing sounds as it will dominate your entire being, creating a powerful sensation that is all-encompassing, like nothing you’ve known before.
This is largely because both the interior and exterior LED screens are one big AI surface with endless options for creative expression across a variety of dimensions that blend sound and vision. What’s more, they’re not designed in the USA but in Zaragoza, Spain. The architect behind it all is Miguel Fontgivell of Oboria Studio in collaboration with Saco Technologies, leading-edge Spanish specialists in digital and AI-driven design and engineering solutions, and in the process the creators of the most amazingly powerful and interactive screen/structure in the world.
The Sphere is the brainchild of the Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) and Las Vegas Sands Corporation – also creators of the Marina Bay Sands resort hotel in Singapore. These people are not short on imagination or ambition, but they weren’t the ones who saw it through in the end. An undertaking like this is complex, time-consuming and costly, and can come across a lot of opposition, so the original team that announced the then MSG Sphere in 2018 saw Sands being replaced by Apollo Global Management.
Populous got the task to design this futuristic project, which was scheduled to open in 2022 but was delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and also saw its projected cost of $1.2 billion almost double to $2.3 billion. It was opened at the end of September 2023 with a 40-show concert residency by U2 with a show officially billed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, and of course all of this can be read off the giant external dome, which is also the world’s greatest advertising billboard. The Sphere is a marvel of engineering and a fantastic soundboard for modern technology in general, but the sheer logistics of putting it together is impressive too, involving the shipping of a giant crane halfway across the world.
An Otherworldly Experience
The most impressive thing of all, of course, is the range of experiences that The Sphere is capable of offering, and this was its very purpose right from the start. There are many huge, expensive, and impressive venues around the world, but The Sphere really does take a step into what entertainment can be like in the future. In addition to concerts on a completely different level, sports events that feel intergalactic and movies that are out of this world when experienced here, it is also a potential rallying venue for anything from product launches to political party conferences.
It is hard to imagine the impact unless you have experienced it for yourself, so if you ever considered a trip to Las Vegas, now’s the time to sample more than the ‘just like in the movies’ strip, bright lights and casinos. Las Vegas has just acquired another wonder to behold.