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The second iteration of the popular Sphere venue will be located in Abu Dhabi after officials from the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT) announced a deal with its New York-based holding company Sphere Entertainment. The first Sphere location outside of the United States is part... View full entry
The developers behind the proposed MSG Sphere in London have withdrawn plans for the project. In a letter to the UK government’s Planning Inspectorate, developers Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG) said that the scheme had become “merely a political football between rival parties.”... View full entry
Two weeks after London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his refusal of planning permissions for the controversial MSG Sphere development planned in East London, the UK’s housing chief has issued a rebuke that may leave some glimmer of hope for the project’s eventual realization. Several UK-based... View full entry
The proposed MSG Sphere in East London has been scrapped with the late decision by Mayor Sadiq Khan to refuse planning permissions over grounds that its design causes a public nuisance to residents of the surrounding Stratford district. The long-controversial Sphere had been derided by critics and... View full entry
[The] MSG Sphere, a new concert hall planned for Stratford in east London – which would be as wide as the London Eye and as tall as Big Ben – could soon move a step closer to reality.
On Tuesday evening, the planning committee of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) will meet to consider its developer’s plans for managing the advertising display and its impact.
— The Guardian
Efforts to halt the development of the Populous-designed entertainment venue date back to late 2020, when the public consultation phase for the project was extended for a third time over concerns about light pollution. Plans were approved by the LLDC in March of last year contingent on an... View full entry
A planning report for the scheme acknowledges criticism of the Sphere for its scale and massing, its impact on Stratford Station, and the impact of advertising on nearby residents. But it says the Sphere would ‘establish a strong sense of place at a scale that is not considered to be excessive, taking account of the established scale of surrounding buildings. — Architects' Journal UK
More than 1,000 objections were lodged against the project, which will come before the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) for a final approval vote on Tuesday. Their voices echo the derision Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright and others have parroted against the giant LED display’s... View full entry
He [Kahn] was enthusiastic about welcoming “another world-class venue to the capital, to confirm London’s position as a music powerhouse” when the sphere was announced in 2018; yet the following year, his planning officers’ first report concluded that it did not comply with his own London Plan. He is in a bind. Will he side with the Labour borough and listen to the locals, or back his development corporation in the hope of using this brash bauble to buff the capital’s post-Brexit brand? — The Guardian
The Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright explores the sordid dealings behind the gigantic $1.8 billion orb he describes as "the apogee of 360-degree advertising, the ultimate building-as-sign […] the stuff of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s neon-soaked dreams." The MSG Sphere... View full entry
It has been a long time coming but a decision on whether east London will get a slice of Las Vegas in the form of a state-of-the art entertainment venue almost as tall as St Paul’s may be nigh. [...]
But the project, the brainchild of MSG’s chief executive, James Dolan [...] is proving divisive.
— The Guardian
The Guardian reports that the public consultation period for the enormous Madison Square Garden Sphere entertainment venue — officially filed for planning application in March 2019 — had to be extended for a third time until the beginning of December due to locals' concern over... View full entry
Details and designs have been revealed for the MSG Sphere London, a planned venue that would hold up to 21,500 people. [...]
The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG), which is behind the New York concert and sports venue of the same name, have bought a 1.9-hectare (4.7-acre) site in Stratford, adjacent to the Olympic Park and Westfield shopping centre, that was used as a coach park during the 2012 London Olympics.
— The Guardian
Image: Madison Square Garden CompanyInitially rumored in January 2018, London's sphere-shaped music venue proposal, designed by Populous, has substantially taken shape, and the Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) behind the project has reportedly now filed planning documents. The plans have been... View full entry
The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) confirmed on Friday that it wants to build the Sphere, a glazed orb with up to 18,000 seats and room for 5,000 standing, beside the Olympic Park in east London.
Designs of a similar “sphere” planned for Las Vegas suggest that the vault of the roof will become a giant screen for vast projections, which could evoke the sensation of being underwater or in a forest.
— The Guardian
Rumors about a monumental sphere-shaped music venue proposal for London seem to be gaining substance: The Guardian reports that the New York-based Madison Square Garden Company confirmed its plans to build a glazed orb — designed by Populous — for over 20,000 concert goers near the... View full entry
London’s suggestive skyline already boasts a Gherkin, a Walkie Talkie and a Cheesegrater. Soon they may be joined by the Golf Ball. According to plans seen by the Guardian, a giant glass sphere taller than St Paul’s Cathedral could be built next to the Olympic park in east London. [...]
One design visualisation shows that the lower half of the orb would be fitted with tiered seating, while the upper half would form a spectacular vaulted roof.
— The Guardian
The Guardian has published a rendering of a new proposed concert venue resembling a giant glass sphere that could even dwarf St Paul's Cathedral. In typical London fashion, the project near the Olympic Park has already been dubbed "the Golf Ball," however the design's fate and origins remain... View full entry
