Lead architect: SKARDELLI György
The new, multifunctional event hall has been built for the 2022 Handball European Championship. Besides being a venue for practically all indoor sports events, the 20,022 spectator capacity hall can also accommodate concerts, conferences, exhibitions and trade shows. The facade of the building has been designed with the analogy of skeletal muscles in mind, inspired by the anatomical drawings of Michelangelo. Its extraordinary look is enhanced at night by the dynamically changing, special lighting.
The MVM Dome is located at an important point of Ferencváros district, next to Népliget. The oval-shaped building is symmetrical to both axes, its longitudinal axis is perpendicular to Üllői Road, which is the main approach direction. The girth of the building evenly increases upwards, every horizontal section is a gradually larger, concentric projection of the ground floor area. This design, besides providing the required functional spaces, lends a very dynamic form to the building. The paved meeting place in front of the main entrance is divided by fragment-like landscaped elements, raised planted areas. Three open air parking areas have been established. In the further phases of development, a connecting practice hall and a multistorey car park will be built next to the Dome, outdoor parking will cease to exist.
Access to the building for the spectators, sportsmen/artists, staff and suppliers is provided on the ground floor, through separate entrances. Connected to the northern main entrance hall is the media centre and a large multifunctional room, which can be the venue of small-scale events. The southern side accommodates a basic kitchen for all the catering businesses in the building, storerooms, mechanical areas, and a group of changing rooms of different size. The access areas around the auditorium can be reached from the entrance hall through stairs, escalators and elevators. The auditorium consists of three tiers: a lower grandstand, the Sky-box and an upper grandstand; they fully encircle the central arena on each floor, providing a unified and harmonious view. The area behind the grandstands is occupied by service functions (cafeterias, cloakrooms, toilets, first aid rooms, mechanical rooms). The lower grandstand, located closest to the arena, can be slided back gradually or even fully, so it is suitable for the multifunctional use of the building. Owing to this, the arena can also be flexibly changed. Besides its original purpose, the handball championship, the arena is suitable for all kinds of indoor sports events, extreme sports, large scale concerts, even for water events equipped with a mobile pool. The two upper parts of the three tier grandstand have precast reinforced concrete structure. The lowest part, closest to the arena, has a special steel grid structure mounted on rollers; each row of seats can be slided back separately. The arena has a high-strength, smooth, hardened industrial floor structure; the special floors required by the different sports can be installed there without any extra preparations. Its central core is a multi-layered structure equipped with pipe network for an ice rink.
The greatest challenge for the designers have proved to be the several changes required in the design and the race against time right up to the finish of the construction. Most of the MVM Dome has a precast reinforced concrete structure, braced by six in-situ reinforced concrete staircases extending to the top of the building. The facade of the building leans outwards by 10 degrees; it is a curtain wall system of steel structure, its curve is determined by the lines connecting the leaning pillars. The dynamic lines and surfaces running along the whole facade are the abstract mapings of muscle fibers bursting with strength. The ’fibers’ are formed by aluminium sheets powder-sprayed in different hues, mounted on the single layer curtain wall structure. In certain places determined by the special design, they are substituted by glass surfaces which provide natural light for the building and also a view. At night, this network of muscle fibers is coloured by a hidden RGBW LED lighting, occasionally with different colours.
Location: Budapest, IX. Üllői út 131. Built: 2021 Lead architect: SKARDELLI György Project architects: KELEMEN Bálint, BORBÉLY András Architects: BORBÉLY András, CSÍZY László, BORZSÁK Veronika, PETRI Dávid, OSZOLI Gellért, VARGA Noémi, BATA István, SZEGEDI Éva, RAB Sarolta, BODA István, JABUDENSZKY Dóra, MÉRAY-HORVÁTH Mercédesz, SKRABÁKNÉ NAGY Mariann, SKRABÁK Zoltán Structural engineer/coordinator: GURUBI Imre Mechanical engineering coordinator: SZAKÁL Szilárd Electrical engineering coordinators: MÁRAMAROSI András, RITZL András Interior architects: SZOKOLYAI Gábor, HAJDÚ Gábor (MCXVI Építészműterem Kft) Area: 57,780 m2
