These images show the cutting-edge new “crystal ball” entertainment venue set for the Olympic Park in London that will “revolutionise” concerts and live events.
The ambitious new designs have been shared with the Standard by the company that runs New York’s Madison Square Garden arena at a launch event at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall.
The MSG Sphere would be built on a vacant five-acre plot within the Olympic Park, in Stratford, using technology never before seen in a British music or entertainment venue.
It includes an audio set-up that directs sound at each audience member, the introduction of group Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality experiences and a fully programmable exterior dome where live events inside can be streamed and displayed outside.
The plot, on the edge of the Olympic Park and close to the railway and Tube Iines beside Westfield shopping centre, was bought last year for £60 million.
It would be Madison Square Garden Company’s (MSG) first venue outside of the US. As well as the famed Midtown arena — where heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier twice boxed in the Seventies — it owns Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre in New York, plus the New York Knicks basketball team.
It is also building a sphere venue in Las Vegas.
Jayne McGivern, MSG executive vice president development and construction, said: “The advantages for London are incalculable. It is absolutely game-changing technology in the way people will come to listen, watch and interact. It will revolutionise the way music and entertainment is viewed.”
The designs revealed a bowl-shaped interior with ultra high resolution 360-degree images, along with crystal-clear sound. Ground-breaking Sound Beam technology from Holoplotwill ensure audio quality will be the same for every audience member regardless of where they sit.
As well as catering for the biggest music stars on the planet, the Stratford sphere would also be used as a conference centre for big name brands and also for E-sport video game events.
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The Las Vegas sphere is due to begin construction this summer with 18,000 seats and 5,000 standing spaces, standing 360ft high and designed by Wandsworth-based architect Populous.
The size and capacity of MSG Sphere London has not been finalised.
MSG hopes a planning application can be lodged by the end of the year and construction on the London venue could take up to three years.
The group claims the venue would create about 3,200 new jobs and be worth £2.7 billion to the UK's economy over the first 20 years’ operation. Local businesses could benefit by £50 million a year once the venue opens.
The design has been hailed as a milestone for London, which has fewer high-capacity entertainment venues per head of population compared to other major global cities.
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