Sphere. Its name alone conjures images of roving lights, dream-like motion graphics, mystical sounds, and musical crescendos. Measuring 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide—and dramatically outfitted with 580,000 square feet of fully programmable external LED lighting—this massively unique entertainment venue has been all the buzz since its opening in September 2023. But long before Sphere became the hottest addition to the Las Vegas scene, a team at New Millennium was identifying specialty steel deck to fit its bold ambitions.
Not surprisingly, this astute team initially viewed Sphere as an arithmetic equation. From its 360-degree shape and column-less interior to its latticed grid shell and precast steel and concrete stadia, the early design drawings were highly intricate.
“From our standpoint, when you see plans for any kind of dome or spherical shape you have to first resolve the geometries,” said Alex Therien, Market Development Manager at New Millennium. “We want to wrap our heads around not only the product requirements but also the potential challenges on the erection side.”
A review of early drawings also sparked recollections of similar projects New Millennium worked on with W&W AFCO Steel—the fabricator selected for Sphere. There’s the Las Vegas Convention Center, with its sloping “ice cone” shaped roof deck, and the curvaceous Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, with its enormous single-panel retractable roof. In fact, the collaboration and trust built during these successful projects were a prime factor in New Millennium being selected.
Trent Fowler, Specialty Deck Project Manager at New Millennium, was intrigued when the project plans landed in his South Carolina office. As he dug in, the scope of the steel-deck piece of the pie was relatively straightforward—if not actually straight.
“It’s a round building, so very few straight lines,” said Fowler, who leads high-profile projects in the Western region. “For us, we knew the curves could translate into massive amounts of skew cutting to make all the decking fit. We knew our detailing team would play a critical role in minimizing skew cutting. Additionally, the ultimate challenge of the job was the design of the inner dome that rises over the 17,000-plus seating area. This would likely require roof deck with both architectural and structural components.”
In addition to the inner dome’s spherical ceiling, New Millennium was tasked with providing steel deck for the structure’s undulating gallery areas, its winding catwalks, and the stout pedestrian bridge that leads to the Venetian Resort. Before the job reached Fowler for the production and shipping stages, there were layers of calculations and considerations. Acoustics topped the list.
New Millennium Composite deck above the seating in Sphere’s inner dome
Sphere inner dome construction
New Millennium oversaw a series of third-party noise reduction coefficient (NRC) tests manipulating different perforation patterns in steel profiles. They applied custom options over off-the-shelf profiles to zero in on a deep bass frequency derived from the acoustician on the project.
“To be able to test theories on a distinct project like this and gain insights from various data is incredibly valuable,” said Therien. “The process assisted our deck selection for the Sphere but also added to our inhouse base of knowledge going forward.”
When it comes to specialty deck, New Millennium relies on its Memphis facility. Therien worked closely with sales engineer Marty Williams and Bob Hudson, General Manager of the Memphis plant, in reconciling structural and acoustic elements of deck needed for the Sphere’s inner dome. The testing included different types of acoustic batts, perforation patterns, and cellular decks. Data and deliberations ultimately led to the selection of 7.5″ Deep-Dek®.
“We were creating this enormous shell, and it needed to be engineered to create an immersive sound barrier for the entire structure,” Hudson explained. “At 14-16 gage, our 7.5″ Deep-Dek® is some of the heaviest deck we produce. Then, the erectors had to pour 10 inches of concrete over this globe-like structure. We designed custom foam fillers that were added to the deck for acoustical support and to reduce the amount of concrete.”
New Millennium’s consultative character was impactful throughout the project. Adept coordination was especially key in shipping deck from Memphis to Las Vegas and properly delivering and sequencing at the site’s tight staging yard. New Millennium worked quite closely with W&W to guide placement of the deck panels.
Williams, known for his extensive long-span deck knowledge, believes projects like Sphere demonstrate the ways New Millennium serves as a valuable resource from end to end. Like Therien, Hudson, and Fowler, he was in regular contact with the team at W&W, as well as internal teams, as design plans moved to production and beyond.
“Partners like W&W know we’re not just a deck manufacturer,” Williams said. “For joists and deck, we’re here to be sure the project has the optimal steel selection and the engineering and installation that goes with it. Sphere gave us more to test and more to learn and more to apply in the future.”
Williams pointed to the exceptional work of the New Millennium detailing team, led by Keith Hallman and Mike Smith in Memphis. They produced several field-use drawings and coordinated directly with the structural detailers on proper deck layout and installation.
“That’s what really sets us apart. We get very engaged,” said Hudson, echoing the sentiments of Williams. “It’s a level of passion that makes us much more than a supplier on a project. In this case, they’re building a globe not a warehouse, so the degree of precision on how the project comes together at a job site is just unbelievable. Our deck had to be perfect. And those are the jobs we want. We like the hard stuff. We enjoy the challenge.”
For Trent Fowler, experiencing Sphere firsthand is now a bucket list item. He made two visits during the five-year construction phase. He was also at the project’s topping out event, where teams from all the subcontractors celebrated their collective effort before Sphere’s dramatic opening.
At the topping out, Bob Hudson joined others at the top of Sphere and signed the last piece of steel lifted on to the structure. In the fall of 2023, he and Marty Williams were part of the first audiences to experience the full immersive power of Sphere. Legendary rock band U2 headlined a 40-show musical-visual fusion concert series that’s still being talked about.
Bob Hudson joined others to sign the final piece of steel added to Sphere
“It was more than a concert, it was a mind-blowing experience,” Hudson said of the show. “The music, the technology, the images, the lights, and the amazing space itself. This was an exciting project, and we’re proud of how the New Millennium team partnered with our customer to help bring it to life.”
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