NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) The Madison Square Garden Company has hired AECOM to be general contractor for its Las Vegas version of the MSG Sphere, to be built at The Venetian.
“We’re excited to partner with The Madison Square Garden Company to deliver a next-generation venue in the heart of the world’s most celebrated entertainment capital,” AECOM CEO Michael S. Burke said. “We’re thrilled about this opportunity to leverage our unrivaled construction management capabilities and expertise on the world’s most complex projects to help transform an ambitious vision into a destination venue unlike any that exists today.”
The sphere is designed by Populous, and Rider Levett Bucknall is the project manager. The MSG Sphere at The Venetian is expected to open in 2021.
The globe hearkens back to the days of the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome, which can be modular and reconstructed to be as large or as small as necessary. At full size, the screen that surrounds the venue will be 170,000 square feet, an enormity that can only be compared with putting together about 100 Imax screens.
The Sphere would throw away traditional sound technology in the 18,000-seat building for the developing “Beam-forming” technology. Basically, for the past half-century, sound technicians have traditionally flown speakers above the stage. This technology, instead, would “beam” the sound in specific directions, and could actually “shoot”’ the sound down specific seating areas. In other words, one person on stage could give a presentation to one row in English while another person gave the presentation in Spanish to the people sitting right next to them.
As for bass, that comes from the floor, which will be a “haptic” floor so the audience can, you know, feel it in their feet.
