Building things with curvature is no easy task. Ancient civilizations struggled to create arches, and even today, it remains a challenge. The key is to provide support until the curved structure can stand on its own. Once the dome is completed, if everything has been done correctly, it will be stable. However, reaching that point is easier said than done.
This was especially true for the Sphere, where the auditorium required 32 trusses, each weighing 100 tons, to sustain the structure. Above it, there is an exosphere that is 30 percent taller than the dome. Just imagine pouring concrete into the structure and installing a massive amount of LEDs both inside and outside. The scale of this project is truly mind-boggling.
“It is other-worldly,” said David Dibble, CEO of MSG Ventures, the company responsible for the building’s technology, in an interview with Popular Mechanics. “It took an immense amount of brilliance to construct this place.”
The Sphere’s internal screen boasts a 16K resolution across its 14,900 square meters (160,000 square feet), making it the largest high-resolution screen in the world. The diodes are positioned just millimeters apart, creating an incredible viewing experience that has been praised by attendees of recent concerts and events. However, achieving such precise positioning was no easy feat.
“That is pretty tough,” added Paul Westbury, executive vice president of development and construction at Sphere Entertainment, in the same interview. “And it only gets tougher. The human eye is incredibly discerning and can detect even the slightest variance in geometric position. We had 189 million diodes spread across two soccer pitches, and none could be out of position by more than the thickness of a blade of grass.”
The external screen also required complex technology, as it would be exposed to the elements. The solution was to organize the LEDs into sealed pucks of 48, coated with a non-reflective black silicone. The exterior surface is covered with 1.23 million of these pucks. Cleverly, they can be easily replaced if any malfunction. Each puck can be installed and removed with a simple push/pop/twist mechanism.
More Spheres are currently in the works, with proposals for construction in London, UK, and plans to build them in other locations as well.
