LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Beginning in December, the much-anticipated Fremont Street Experience project will "turn up the wattage" in downtown Las Vegas every night with spectacular, computer-generated light and sound shows.

However, there's much more to bringing the unique shows to life than simply flipping a switch. In fact, the components forming the Fremont Street Experience Light and Sound Show together comprise a modern technological and engineering marvel, the only one of its kind found anywhere in the world.

With a depth of five feet and a curved radius of 44 feet, the space frame towers 90 feet above a four-block section of Fremont Street -- between Main and Fourth streets, a distance equal to 4.62 football fields -- and serves as the display system for the shows. The space frame's interior surface covers more than 175,700 square feet, an area equal to slightly more than four acres. A section comprising one-fiftieth of the total space frame equals the size of the world's current largest electronic sign. Holding the space frame aloft are 16 columns, each weighing 26,000 pounds and each capable of bearing 400,000 pounds, and 43,000 struts.

Filled with 2.1 million bulbs, the space frame is unofficially the world's largest graphics display system, said Steve Weeks, assistant division manager with Young Electric Sign Company in Las Vegas, the contractor that fabricated and installed the display system.

"This is the biggest project the Young Electric Sign Company has ever worked on in its 75-year history," Weeks said.

Not only is the number of bulbs impressive, but their power potential is incredible. If all the lights were turned on at full power simultaneously, the output would equal 7.8 megawatts, or millions of watts, of energy, Weeks said.

Each bulb is equal to a single pixel in a television picture tube, and like a TV pixel, each bulb contains red, blue, green and clear lamps. Combined with 8 shades of dimming, the entire display is capable of producing 65,536 color combinations, Weeks said.

In addition to the millions of bulbs, within the space frame structure are 180 computer-programmed high-intensity strobe lights, 64 variable color lighting fixtures that can produce 300 colors, and four robotic mirrors per block that can be individually programmed to pan and tilt to reflect light during the shows.

Accompanying the light display is a sound show second to none anywhere on the planet. A total of ~08 speakers are mounted within the space frame that can produce a combined 540,000 watts of concert-quality sound and music.

Running the light and sound show are 31 computers, including 30 within the space frame, and a single master computer. Combined, the computers contain 100 gigabytes of storage -- comparable to about 250 personal home computers, Weeks said.

Eventually, the Fremont Street Experience will have a library of several shows with interchangeable images that can be tailored for special events and different holiday seasons.

Observed from street level, the breathtaking shows appear deceivingly simple. But the complex technology and special craftsmanship behind them make the Fremont Street Experience a must-see, one-of-a-kind attraction in a city brimming with entertainment.

The Fremont Street Experience downtown revitalization project is a joint effort of the City of Las Vegas and the Fremont Street Experience Limited Liability Company, a coalition of 10 downtown hotels -- Binion's Horseshoe, California, El Cortez, Fitzgerald's, Four Queens, Fremont, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, Jackie Gaughan's Plaza and Las Vegas Club. Funding is derived from the 10 downtown hotels, room tax revenues, city redevelopment funds, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Information provided by the Fremont Street Experience - Las Vegas (1995)