All eyes are on a new Las Vegas landmark
It takes something special to move the needle in a glitzy city teeming with 24/7 spectacle and activity. In Las Vegas, necks crane to catch a glimpse of the Fountains of Bellagio, the ancient Egyptian style of the Luxor Hotel and Casino, and the Stratosphere tower, at 1,149 ft, the tallest freestanding tower in the U.S. But it’s a sleek, yet simple, geometric shape that aims to outshine them all; welcome to Sphere, billed as a next-generation entertainment medium.
Located just east of the Las Vegas Strip, Sphere’s 580,000-sq ft, fully-programmable LED exterior—the largest LED screen on Earth—can be completely illuminated, displaying dynamic, animated content to the more than 40 million visitors to Sin City each year. Launching in July 2023, Sphere came to life by displaying a greeting—“Hello World”—followed by dazzling fireworks and stars and stripes animations, before showcasing a wide array of visual content including underwater scenes and vividly-textured lunar surfaces. Since its debut, Sphere has hosted some heavy hitters including a performance by U2 and Postcard from Earth, an immersive exploration of the planet by Academy Award-nominated director Darren Aronofsky.
Sphere Studios, which is owned by Madison Square Garden (MSG) Entertainment Corporation, partnered with Montreal-based SACO Technologies, an industry leader in solid-state LED video lighting and media solutions, to design and manufacture the structure’s LED display, and it employed 7thSense, a creative software and technology company specializing in high profile media-based attractions, to deliver programming onto Sphere’s exterior using its advanced media server, pixel processing and show control technologies.
Described as “living architecture” by Guy Barnett, senior vice president of Brand Strategy and Creative Development at Sphere, the exterior consists of approximately 1.2 million LED pucks, spaced 8 in. apart. Each puck contains 48 individual LED diodes, with each diode capable of displaying 256 million different colors, creating an ever-changing landmark on the Vegas skyline.
Sphere’s beauty is not skin-deep; its interior spaces were carefully crafted, with ICRAVE tasked with designing the interiors for all public spaces, totaling 29 major and quick-service venues. These include the entry bridges, lobby and guest welcome areas, main concourse, food and beverage venues, galleries, private artist dressing rooms and VIP areas such as a private club, pre-show spaces and viewing suites. Journey Lighting was tapped to design the lighting for all of these areas.
“Sphere’s interiors create a unique and unfamiliar setting, with lighting playing a central role,” said Lionel Ohayon, founder and CEO of ICRAVE. “The mood and energy of Sphere’s interiors are manipulated through a layered series of continuous and directional lighting that is juxtaposed by expansive indirect washes of light in addition to deliberate strikes of light. Uninterrupted columns soaring through the breathtaking atrium space are outfitted with custom and programmable lighting that can transform the space for different events or shows. The long spaces, metered by repetition and the intentional use of color lights versus white lighting, build anticipation as one makes their way toward their seat in the performance bowl. The lighting sets the tone and ‘performs’ as part of the Sphere experience from entry, to atrium activation, to showtime, and as guests transition out of Sphere, back to the bustle of Vegas.”
Due to the expansive dimension of the building, the design approach focused on using lighting fixtures to accommodate diverse spatial needs. This necessitated the use of straightforward fixtures in unique ways with creative finishes to achieve captivating, otherworldly effects.
Upon entering the venue, Acolyte flexible RGBW LED programmable panels were concealed behind expansive acrylic panels, casting an even and adaptive luminance that follows the contours and shapes of the portals. Once in the atrium, Color Kinetics RGBW grazing fixtures were discreetly integrated into the vertical soffit detailing, resulting in ribbons of illumination.
For dynamic scene transitions, designers utilized 4-ft sections of the fixtures in their programming. In the Main Atrium, customized USAI infinite color BeveLED downlights meld with Altman projectors, Clarté color-tuning track heads, Tivoli LED products and Q-Tran linear LEDs to create a memorable lighting experience. At bars and food kiosks, warm 2400K and 2700K lighting was used to bring diverse hospitality experiences to life.
Throughout the venue, there are very few straight orthogonal surfaces, making fixture selection and installation a challenge for designers. Numerous mock-ups and adjustments on site were critical to ensure every detail was fashioned as intended and properly replicated throughout the building.
“The scale of the space and tall ceilings in the atrium were a big challenge for us,” Ohayon explained. “We aimed to create a dramatically lit space that has a hospitality feel, while being surrounded by a 40-ft ceiling with white neutral finishes. Embracing neutral tones and leaning into the narratives of the venue’s shows and events, we saturated the spaces accordingly with colored lighting and warm tones. Washing surfaces with light and grazing finishes helped ensure the tonality of the space was adaptable to whatever is happening at the venue, such as a concert versus an expo event.”
Though Sphere’s exterior receives a lot of hype, carrying a sense of otherworldliness into its interior was no easy task. The highly reflective black terrazzo flooring, designed to mimic the appearance of outer space, posed a considerable hurdle. Even modest elements, such as under-bar lighting, required attention to guarantee a flawless and aesthetically pleasing reflection on the floor.
Concealing all LEDs from view was an integral part of the immersive experience. As an embodiment of the “entertainment venue of the future,” a commitment to sleek, unobtrusive detailing with minimal hardware and exposure was paramount, seamlessly integrating with the architectural landscape, added Ohayon.
For artists, partners and brands that are seeking to create stories that impact audiences in new ways, the future is now. “There’s nothing comparable to the impact from displaying innovative brand and immersive content on the world’s largest video screen,” said David Hopkinson, president and chief operating officer of MSG Sports, who oversees global marketing and brand partnerships across Sphere Entertainment. “The extraordinary experiences we can create are only limited by imagination.”
