Sphere

Las Vegas doesn’t do subtle. From the 1950s onward, the Entertainment Capital of the World has trafficked exclusively in grand gestures. Sphere may be a 366-foot-tall, glowing orb that’s visible from space and is capable of accommodating up to 20,000 spectators, but it needed to play at a human scale.

Interior and lighting design would play outsize roles in heightening guests’ experiences of Sphere. What we couldn’t appreciate was how inadequate those service definitions would feel in Sphere’s shadow. This project upended our conception and practice of design, requiring us to think across every dimension and facet of human experience. Only after its completion did we realize we’d pioneered a new modality for our industry: multidimensional design.

A sensation of weightlessness envelops visitors as they pass from the outside world into Sphere. Black terrazzo creates an invisible floor plane that, combined with lighting, provides close to 100% reflectivity. Thresholds throughout the atrium are presented as circles or ovals, evoking portals to new dimensions. Soundscapes heighten the ethereal tonality and feel.

This commitment to visual, aural and tactile cohesion is appreciable throughout Sphere’s interior landscape. In total we designed 15 major and 14 quick-service venues across 400,000 square feet. Entry bridges, concourses, galleries, private dressing rooms, VIP lounges, luxury viewing suites, food and beverage venues — each of them a satellite in an expansive galaxy.

This multidimensional mix of lighting, sound, visuals and tactile elements fuse into an experience for both audiences and artists like nowhere else in this — or any other — world.