ATLAS FABRICATES THE FUTURE
The venue’s massive, semispherical frame sits just south of Sands Avenue and east of Las Vegas Boulevard. The Sphere’s revolutionary design takes up 750,000 square feet and comfortably seats 18,500 concertgoers. It boasts an eye-catching steel frame that has quickly become a landmark representative of the world-class entertainment and recreation that Las Vegas has to offer.
To meet the Sphere’s aesthetic requirements, the engineering design called for unique sizes of round hollow structural sections (HSS). Atlas Tube was chosen as a partner due to its ability to quickly tool up, produce, and deliver those unique sizes within North America.
Atlas’ Engineering Support team had worked with fabricator W&W | AFCO on challenging projects before, and the existing partnership paved the way for collaboration that made the project a success. Achieving the intended vision of the Sphere required HSS sizes that are listed in the AISC Steel Manual but have never been rolled by Atlas Tube. Atlas invested in the necessary tooling to create the full range of required sizes for W&W, ultimately producing 2,460 tons of HSS for the project. The strict quality standards of Atlas’ 100% domestically made steel combined with its wealth of experience and expertise with custom tooling and logistics helped W&W | AFCO deliver the project on time.
Though simple from the outside, the Sphere is composed of several interacting structural systems:
- A pile-supported foundation
- A structure supporting interior seating and vertical transportation
- The parametrically designed exterior skeleton, known as the geosphere
- A domed roof below the geosphere that supports an all-encompassing screen over the concert venue
The round HSS members of the geosphere are connected to custom nodes produced by Cast Connex, which reduced fabrication cost and provided precise, repeatable geometry at each of the many connection points. These parts work in perfect balance to create a unique, jaw-dropping superstructure that greatly benefits from the HSS compact profile and its unique ability to accomplish the engineering and architectural goals of the project.
In addition to the Sphere itself, the venue features a 1,200-foot-long off-site pedestrian bridge with a unique serpentine pattern that connects the Sphere to the larger Las Vegas Strip. The bridge features a metal walking deck and a metal deck roof, founded on pipe piles just like the Sphere.
Ultimately, Atlas Tube’s ability to quickly set up custom tooling for uncommon sizes of HSS, close relationships with fabricators, and its speed of delivery helped to make the MSG Sphere one of the world’s premier concert venues and a contemporary American icon.