MULTI-PURPOSE ARENA ZAGREB, CROATIA

Designed and constructed for the 2009 World Handball Championship, this 15,000 seat indoor arena has the capacity to host 11 sporting disciplines including handball, basketball, volleyball, futsal, indoor athletics, fencing, boxing, gymnastics ice hockey and figure skating. It can also be used for concerts, congresses and exhibition / commercial events.

Arena Zagreb’s form follows the structure of a ribbed, oval-shaped bowl built from 86 pre-stressed, pre-fabricated concrete columns that curve upward from the perimeter to define the building’s entire envelope. The columns were cast on site, using a purpose-built concrete plant and filtered gravel excavated from the venue’s own foundations, and carry a steel roof of 23 suspended girders spanning roughly 100 metres over the court. Between the columns, a semi-translucent polycarbonate skin admits daylight into the surrounding circulation halls, reduces heat loss, and lets the building be lit from within after dark, while the white concrete surfaces reflect solar heat rather than absorb it.

Inside, the arena separates its users by level rather than by wall: parking below grade, the court and athlete facilities at ground level, spectator entry and catering one floor up, VIP and media suites above that, and technical plant and lighting catwalks beneath the roof. A colour-coded circulation system keeps each group moving independently, letting 15,000 spectators enter and clear the building quickly.

Positioned at the southwestern part of Zagreb, at one of the city’s main entrances, the arena quickly became a landmark- the construction also changed the area around it — a stretch of underused residential land near Jarun that has since grown into a shopping, entertainment and residential district anchored by the building itself.

Info

• CLIENT : INGRA S.A. – Construction Co./Developer
• DATE : 2007
• CONSTRUCTION PERIOD : 2007-2008
• STRUCTURAL STUDY : UPI 2M, ZAGREB