© The Sphere

If there is something we are still learning from Las Vegas, it is the fact that there are no limits to creativity in the search for publicity ploys and gimmicks. To its kitch imitation of Italy’s City of Canals, the casino and hotel The Venetian has now added a music and entertainment venue which is the biggest spherical structure in the whole wide world: a dome rising all of 112 meters, clad on the inside and out – to the delight of potential advertisers – with sophisticated curving screens developed by the Zaragoza architect Miguel Fontgivell. The cancellation last 9 January of a similar construction in London guaranteed that the state of Nevada’s City of Sin remains alone in taking on transgressions of this scale.