The MSG Sphere launched in Las Vegas this past September and quickly become a phenomenon in the entertainment industry. Acts are talking about performing at the venue, sporting leagues are booking the space for 2024, and its owners are even looking to expand to other cities across the globe. Now, the leading interior designer is offering behind-the-scenes details of how they brought the Sphere to life.
ICRAVE, a design firm based in New York City and Miami, partnered with Sphere Entertainment, “blending Sphere’s distinctive architectural and structural elements with sophisticated lighting and interior design,” Executive Vice President of Sphere Entertainment Paul Westbury said, noting that the experience “takes guests from simply being in a venue in Las Vegas to feeling like they have entered a new world.”
The $2.3 billion venue includes floor-to-ceiling wraparound interior LED screens and 170,000 ultra-directional speakers. It is currently the largest spherical structure on Earth and was designed to be unlike no other entertainment space; ICRAVE helped curate an “ethereal atmosphere” for the venue’s public-facing interior spaces, including hospitality suites, the Atrium, and food and beverage locations.
ICRAVE noted that the idea was to give the building a sense of “performing,” aside from just the bowl. Architectural lighting is used throughout the venue, along with reflective flooring, curved surfaces, uninterrupted columns, and convex ceilings to create an “otherworldly experience.”
“We needed the surrounding spaces to live up to the promise of what’s inside the bowl and to ensure guests feel a seamless connection to the venue before even taking their seat for a show,” Lionel Ohayon, Founder and CEO of ICRAVE, said in a statement. “The design of Sphere clearly delineates and accentuates the moment one leaves the default world and enters the venue, a place like nowhere else in the world.”
The rockers of U2 were the first to perform at the venue for a residency that has now been extended twice. They’ll be followed by Phish next year for a four-night run in April. Additionally, the venue is likely to host the NHL 2024 draft, preceding a UFC match later in the year.
While the Sphere won’t be expanding to London amid concerns about the venue’s height and appearance in the city, Sphere Entertainment Chief Executive James Dolan now has his sights set on the United Arab Emirates to construct the Sphere in Abu Dhabi. The company is also reportedly in talks with “multiple international markets.”
