The Sphere
What a difference one week can make. Last week, it was sunny and the leaves outside my window were still green. This morning as darkness gently gave way to light, the trees outside almost seem luminescent, radiant in their golden hues of yellow and orange. We are definitely solidly into autumn now.
In this week’s issue, we focus on the architecture and design of The Sphere, a new purpose-built concert venue in Las Vegas unlike any other. Because a picture is worth a 1,000 words, I’m sharing several pictures in this issue. If you’re reading in email, I recommend reading on the web or in the Substack app to ensure you see the whole issue.
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The Sphere
When I first heard about The Sphere, I was intrigued. Buildings are routinely rectangular, rarely round. And it’s one thing to make a round building; it’s quite another to make a spherical building.
When I started to see pictures of The Sphere this summer, however, I realized there was something even more unique about this building than its shape: its surface. Buildings may be clad in any number of materials — brick, glass, stucco, stone, or wood as some examples — but once that design decision has been made, the building generally exudes the same exterior appearance.
Not so with the Sphere.
Have you seen the Sphere?
The entire skin of the building appears to be covered with a screen that can be changed to show anything - the earth, a basketball, an eyeball, you name it. Wild.
A lot has been written about this venue. In the months leading up to my visit, I intentionally didn’t read any of it. Sure, I was curious but I wanted to experience the “wow” of a true first impression. If you’d like the same, I encourage you to skip this issue for now (and read another issue instead).
📙 An aside
Some years ago, the cover of a book and its title, Round Buildings, Square Buildings, & Buildings That Wiggle Like a Fish, caught my eye in a bookshop and I bought it.
As I started to write about the Sphere, I remembered this book and grabbed it from my bookshelf. In it, author Philip Isaacson notes:
All beautiful buildings, indeed all beautiful things, have a magical feeling about them. That feeling is called harmony. A building has harmony when everything about it—its shape, its walls, its windows and doors—seem just right. Each must be a perfect companion for the other. When each suits the other so well that they come to belong to one another, the building is a work of art.
There is a magical feeling about The Sphere, particularly the interior.
But first, let’s touch on the exterior.
1. Exterior
While The Sphere looks most spectacular against a dark night sky, I first saw The Sphere during the day. At one point, it turned into a giant yellow smiling emoji. Here is a brief animation of another surface scene of jellyfish or something. (In real life, it transitions smoothly but I didn’t take any video so am embedding this animation instead).
Here is a picture of The Sphere in context, showing the Strip behind it.
The night time images I’d seen looked so high resolution I had assumed the surface was glass or some sort of screen. In reality it is an exoskeleton with lots of LED lights mounted on it. Here is what it looks like up close:
Here’s a little more detail from Kalzip, a German company that was part of the project team:
Specialised in façade and roof structures made of aluminium for over 55 years, the Koblenz-based company, a world leader in this field, was commissioned to construct and install the ‘Exosphere’. A challenge even for specialists, because the shell is also unique in the world. Approximately 1.2 million LED pucks are mounted on it, each puck consists of 48 individual LED diodes and each of these programmable diodes can display 256 million colours. These provide visitors with a breathtaking, 18K – sharp, almost 360° visual experience and make the ‘Exosphere’ the largest screen in the world. (source)
The result is a landmark building unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
2. Getting to The Sphere
There is a skybridge connecting The Sphere to The Venetian.1 Like so much in Vegas, it feels weird to go from gondolas and Italian vibes one minute (as you leave The Venetian) to a futuristic space vibe at The Sphere the next and the skybridge — with its bright white light bars overhead — starts to build the anticipation of what’s to come.
As you approach The Sphere, the vibe feels a bit like Star Tours at Disneyland. The floors are a polished concrete, lighting is dim and the first indirect lighting is seen.
Looking out the windows, you can see the outside of The Sphere.
Inside, people queue to enter. The process was surprisingly quick.
Full of anticipation, I have to say the venue far exceeded any expectations I might have had. Let me show you around.
3. Interior
The first thing you see is this:
Instantly, it’s obvious that this place is going to be special.
Concourses at sports arenas are generally functional, but rarely beautiful. The attention here to lighting, surfaces and details is impressive.
Looking up, you can tell this is in a completely different league than your typical arena or venue.
You may begin to notice a motif of rings and circles that repeats throughout in different ways.
Also, the masterful use of light:
As you move into the heart of the space, this is what it looks like:
I’ve never seen a venue like this. It’s so immersive and mesmerizing.
The soundscape is custom and has ethereal sounds of U2 mixed in now and then in a way that deepens the anticipation and makes the whole journey feel like part of the concert experience rather than just walking to your seats.
Everywhere you look there are subtle little design flourishes like the math equations that wrap like a ribbon around this space (look carefully at the bottom of the wall). Math, at a concert?
Usually circulation (stairs, escalators, elevators) are functional. Here it feels more like a swank lounge in some global gateway city.
As you step onto the escalator, if you look up, you will see this:
It’s actually steel cables but it looks like drapes, gently washed in light from overhead. Note the indirect lighting on the undersides of the escalators. Is there a surface they didn’t think about? The attention to detail is seriously impressive.
As you step off the escalator on the second floor and prepare to step on another escalator, this is the view:
As you continue up, look down. Here is the view:
As U2’s residency is The Sphere’s first, it’s not clear how much of this vibe is The Sphere and how much is U2 but there are definitely custom elements like this transparent dynamic screen that spans multiple stories.
Note the incredible series of rings hanging throughout the space and their reflective surfaces.
Stepping off the escalator on the third floor, you will soon notice these blue spheres hanging overhead.
Often, the higher levels of an area feel like the “cheap seats.” Not here.
Typically concessions aren’t great to begin with and if you are in the 300s they are even worse. Not so at The Sphere. The 300 concessions, in my opinion, look even fancier than 100s. Take a look and tell me if this isn’t the nicest place to get a pre-concert drink you’ve ever seen!
Even here, the math and spherical motifs continue:
With a drink in hand and having seen the venue, now let’s head into the concert, shall we?
The entrances to each section are cool. It literally looks like people just disappear as they go in. It’s also super quiet.
In our next issue, we will share what the U2 concert experience was like. Stay tuned!
Go deeper
If you would like to learn more about The Sphere, here are a few links:
ICRAVE unveils sci-fi interiors of MSG Sphere Las Vegas (Dezeen)
Las Vegas Sphere: How Did They Do It? (DesignNews)
The Sphere opens in Las Vegas. What does it mean for architecture? (The Architect’s Newspaper)
The Sphere is Here. Are We Ready for More High-Tech Architecture? (Smithsonian Magazine)
I hope you enjoyed this issue. I would love to hear your impressions and reactions to The Sphere - via the subscriber chat, comments below or email.
Thank you for spending a few minutes of your weekend with me.
Be well,
-Bryce
You can also walk outside to The Sphere or take a taxi or Uber, etc. but I would recommend staying at The Venetian if you go to simplify the experience and reduce stress.
I would love to go and check it out for myself. The exterior's use of LED lights to create a visual experience and the unique design of the building's surface are mesmerizing from afar. The interior, with its attention to lighting, design flourishes, and immersive atmosphere, reflects a level of thoughtfulness and creativity rarely seen in a concert venue. A very instagrammable place.