Sphere Las Vegas, NV

Sphere brings immersive entertainment to a 366-foot-high, 516-foot-diameter venue in Las Vegas. Designed by Populous, the building encloses a theater for 17,600 seated guests beneath a steel-framed dome and a suspended interior media plane.

Severud Associates engineered interconnected structural systems for the seating bowl, 400-foot-diameter dome, media plane, and exterior grid shell. The outer shell, known as the Exosphere, uses steel pipes joined by cast steel nodes to support programmable LED lighting across its surface.

Parametric analysis helped optimize the dome and exterior shell. Carefully detailed framing and an adjustable support system allowed the interior media plane to be erected within one-eighth inch of its theoretical geometry, providing the precision required for the immersive visual experience.