3XN has announced design for a new multipurpose sports arena in Munich, Germany, which will be built on the site of the former Olympic cycling track stadium in Munich Olympic Park. 

The project for building the arena was awarded to 3XN Architects of Copenhagen, Denmark, together with LATZ+PARTNER, a German landscape and urban planning firm. 

The sports arena will house 11,500 audience capacity and will be the future home of German ice hockey champions Munich Red Bulls and German basketball champions FC Bayern Munich. 

To improve the local sports infrastructure for schools, amateur clubs and young talents, three additional canopied ice rinks will be built next to the sports arena as training facilities and for recreational use. Therefore, a comprehensive agreement on guaranteed opening times for the ice rinks has been closed with the City of Munich. The building owner of the project is Red Bull Stadion München GmbH.

The new sports arena is a separate oval structure that naturally and respectfully melds into the world-famous Olympic Park with its many iconic buildings. This impression is enhanced by the green roof and vertical facade structure. The facade is dominated by vertical lamellas, swinging upwards over the glass-paneled entrances which are thus beautifully accentuated. 

The training areas are partially underground and modelled to form a green hill, picking up the topography and enabling a coherent continuation of the pathways and landscape design of the Olympic Park.

"We are delighted to design the new multipurpose sports arena at the Olympic Park in Munich, which will be the fourth arena project for 3XN Architects. It’s a great opportunity to become part of the inspiring, historic architecture of the park. During the design process, we continually thought about the park’s original design and asked ourselves how Günter Behnisch would have approached the task," said Jan Ammundsen, 3XN Architect’s Head of Design.  

"It was important to us to create a flexible, multipurpose arena with a strong identity while respecting the history and vision of the original Olympic Park and fitting in quite naturally. We want to create the perfect backdrop for a fantastic fan experience."

Utilizing the arena’s full organizational capacity, its two principal future occupants, FC Bayern Munich’s Basketball division and the Munich Red Bulls, can each play up to 40 matches per year. 

And there is additional capacity for up to 20 other matches and sports events as well as 20 sports-related events. The gross floor area of the new arena will be 673,000 square feet (62,500 square meters). 

The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for the coming winter, provided the construction permit and building preparations are obtained in time. Inauguration of the new sports arena is planned for late summer 2021.

All images © 3XN 

> via 3XN