DomeX LED Planetarium

A revolution in immersive planetarium and giant dome cinema, DomeX is transcending reality as we know it. This first-of-its-kind, fully operational LED planetarium boasts an 8K resolution and 67 million individually-addressed pixels across the face of it’s screen. Incorporating LEDs directly into the dome surface, the structure delivers an active video display that is unrivaled in contrast and brightness, delivering a hypnotic experience with truly-black night skies.

DomeX is an exciting innovation that can take science, education, and entertainment to the next level. As such, it is the new centerpiece of Evans & Sutherland’s Cosm Experience Center’s demonstration and R&D facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. A truncated half-sphere structure sliced vertically, DomeX is positioned to engulf the audience in full floor-to-ceiling immersive experience. Its configuration and precise framework creates a seamless reality display allowing LED panels to align at the width of a human hair, positioned at a tolerance of just .004 inches (0.1mm). With a diameter spanning 20 meters (nearly 66 feet), the massive dome is supported at its base and anchored to the building structure below.

The 20m diameter dome is located in an interior environment with a structure composed of steel and aluminum truss elements and steel brace members. The structure is tied together at its base with a continuous steel basering truss. The basering truss is supported via 17 anchorage points at each vertical truss intersection which transfer gravity and lateral loads to the building.

DomeX Structural Analysis

McLaren Engineering Group performed a full structural analysis and engineering review of DomeX which was designed and fabricated by Spitz. Our structural engineers conducted a global evaluation to determine the load effects on the entire dome system and engineered all typical and unique connections. The structural analysis took into account both, dead loads (the weights of the various structural members and any objects that are permanently attached to the dome, including the LED modules) and lateral loads (i.e., seismic and internal differential pressures).