The Las Vegas Sphere: An Excessive and Intrusive Monster
Glamour, Glare, and the Glut of Gigantism.
The technological and engineering achievements that make the Las Vegas Sphere possible are undeniably outstanding. But I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw a tweet, with several million views, describing the building as the eighth wonder of the world1. I find the general astonishment and enthusiasm that is expressed in similar ways by tens of thousands to be a bit childish.
Now, I don't want to discuss what qualities a structure must possess to be ranked among the world’s most magnificent. But I think that an over-sized IMAX Dome theater should be classified differently and seen for what it really is: A technologically impressive but unnecessarily exaggerated construction (Indeed, the same can also be said about the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Wall of China).
Aside from that, it fits in our time that a giant commercial entertainment venue receives such widespread attention and positive response. It shows how much modern society overemphasizes the importance of entertainment.
Meanwhile, as an event location, the Sphere seems to be setting new standards.
Many visitors described its opening concert by U2 as a mind-bending audiovisual feast like the world has never seen before.
But let's stay grounded. What this monster offers is simply more of the same: A gigantic screen with 16K resolution, hundreds of speakers and lots of bling all around. There's also some technophile stuff sprinkled in there like Aura, supposedly the most advanced humanoid robot, but actually not much more than an AI-supported welcome service for the Sphere’s visitors.
Still, the visitors love it.
After all, people go to Vegas because they want to experience all the pomp, tinsel and excess. They want to be entertained. And in a world where everyone always carries a small screen in their pocket, this can be achieved if you put a gigantic screen in front of them, which washes away everything else.
Of course, all of this comes at a price when we look at the resources that go into the construction and operation of the venue.
Over ten thousand tons of steel and thousands of tons of concrete were used to build the Las Vegas Sphere.2 It is estimated to use 96,000 megawatt hours of energy per year3, the same as a city of 10,000 people. Even if around 70% of it will come from renewable sources in the future, the energy consumption stays enormous.4
There is also another resource guzzler: maintenance. To give an example, the lifespan of the millions of used LEDs is around 30,000 hours (which can be increased further when the operators lower the Sphere’s luminosity). Stuff inevitably breaks. You don't have to be a statistical genius to assume that multiple broken LED Pucks need to be replaced every single day.
In addition, the business doesn't seem to be entirely profitable, generating a loss of $100 million in the latest quarter5. However, that’s a concern for the owners.
And as for all the wastage of resources, that's likely not a big deal in a place like Vegas. Unnecessary excess is ultimately what sets this city apart.
But there is another thing which I also find questionable, if not problematic. And that is how much the Sphere forces itself on other people who perhaps don't want to have anything to do with it.
Huge, brightly lit and animated advertising spaces are nothing new. They are now part of every big city and we have learned to block them out - even if they continue to have an effect in our subconscious.
What makes the Sphere so difficult to ignore is its sheer enormity and the fact that the structure is designed to provide visual stimuli for a surrounding area of several square miles. Sometimes, there is also something uncanny about it.
This video shows how the sphere’s “eyes” seem to follow the strike of a golfer.
Here the sphere appears to be observing a train passing by; there are also similar videos with airplanes.
Maybe it happened by chance. But it would definitely make me a little nervous if two gigantic eyes all of a sudden began staring at me.
Even if no cartoon face is making a grimace, the sphere inevitably intrudes on people. Nobody can tell me that this thing doesn't have a distracting influence on drivers. After all, who wouldn’t be distracted by a giant, glowing ball right in the heart of the city?
Even Formula 1 has agreed with the operators that for the duration of the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix the colors red, yellow and blue will not appear on the gigantic display in order not to distract the racing drivers.6
Since we're discussing it, what does the outer shell of the Sphere actually display?
Trivialities, rich in effects.
Different patterns alternate with giant basketballs, silhouettes of people, views of planet earth, and huge eyeballs. All are bright, colorful, and certainly striking at first glance.
In conclusion, the Las Vegas Sphere is a true symbol of our era: bright, bold, and extravagantly over-the-top. It represents the peak of engineering and our intense love for entertainment, while also highlighting the excess and intrusion that often come with such grand projects.
And perhaps the residents of Las Vegas are accustomed to the city's flair for the extravagant, but personally, I'd be more than just irked if a colossal, glaring beacon suddenly dominated the skyline of my city. It's one thing to embrace spectacle, but another to live in the shadow of a garish, over-sized ornament.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(venue)
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/dk33TE320meVvh8OQrUzvg2
https://www.sphereentertainmentco.com/sphere-entertainment-and-nv-energy-announce-a-proposed-long-term-agreement-maximizing-renewable-power-for-sphere-in-las-vegas/
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/11/09/vegas-sphere-100-million-operating-loss-quarter/71523385007/
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-bans-red-yellow-and-blue-from-sphere-during-f1-vegas-gp-action/10546867/