Engineering Excellence Awards

Severud Associates of New York has received the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) highest distinction, earning the prestigious Grand Conceptor Award for its exceptional structural engineering work on the Las Vegas Sphere. The project was honored at the 58th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards Gala (EEA), a national juried competition awards ceremony sponsored by ACEC. Hosted by comedian Paul Mecurio for the second consecutive year, tonight’s celebration spotlighted 194 outstanding engineering achievements from the U.S. and worldwide.

Engineered to endure the challenges of the Mojave Desert, Sphere is designed to accommodate extreme daily temperature swings—causing its equatorial circumference to expand and contract by up to three feet each day. Las Vegas’ nearly year-round sunlight also posed a unique challenge for the venue’s massive LED exterior, known as the Exosphere. Direct sunlight on one portion of the curved LED surface can distort images on adjacent panels. Severud resolved this by pre-deflecting large sections of the screen during fabrication to maintain visual accuracy once installed.

Beyond its staggering feats of engineering, Sphere also has revolutionized the concert-going experience, delivering an immersive “you are there onstage” level of light, sight, and sound unlike anything the world has ever seen. A show at Sphere is more than just a show—and every seat is the best seat in the house.

“Sphere is like the magnum opus of them all,” said Severud Associates Principal Cawsie Jijina. “I have waited all my life for a client to say, ‘We’re going to do this [design] that basically no one else has ever done before.’ It seems like all mylife, I’ve been preparing for this one.”

Sphere joins a prestigious list of recent Grand Conceptor winners, including New York’s Grand Central Madison (formerly East Side Access), the Sixth Street Viaduct Project in Los Angeles, and Moynihan Train Hall, also in New York.