This is what the Budapest Athletics Stadium will look like

The winner project for the construction of the Budapest Athletics Stadium has been chosen. According to pestbuda.hu, the Stadium, in its extended form, will be able to host 55,000 people.

Építészfórum reports that four proposals were awarded by the committee, regarding the plans for the construction of the Budapest Athletics Stadium. Altogether 20 million forints (~64,000 EUR) were divided among the four winner projects. The first prize was given to Marcel Ferencz DLA and his team, the Napur Architect architectural agency.

At the moment, there is no such establishment (nor roofed or outdoors) in Hungary that is dedicated to hosting athletic events. The government’s goal is to provide a better quality sports service, to ensure that the preparation for the Olympics is in a professionally adequate venue, to promote all sorts of sports, and to provide better accessibility to these sports. To achieve these goals, it is important to improve sports infrastructure.

The Kemény Ferenc Program proposes establishing an athletics centre in Budapest, which will consist of a central stadium, a roofed hall and outdoor training courts.

One of the requirements for the stadium is that there has to be space for 15,000 people and, when it is extended, it needs to have 55,000 seats. The most important requirement, however, is that the stadium has to be built in a way that the compact and efficient initial state can be extended into a grand stadium that would host world events. This extending and deconstructing process has to be economic and budget-friendly. Furthermore, the architectural design, the aesthetic values and the technological quality are all essential factors.

The committee found that most of the entries had smart, resourceful and interesting solutions, but not any of them could live up to the functional expectations. One of these issues is the entrance and the emptying of the stadium.

• In the case of entry nr. 1, the entrance is too small, restricted, and the location of the parking lots is questionable
• Entry nr. 2: the location of the running court is smart, the organisation of traffic uses is efficient too
• Entry nr. 4: there are problems with security, wind protection, with the asymmetric design (owing to this, the scaffoldings are not roofed properly), the lighting (the arena is lit only from one side), but the functional contact system is great and thorough
• Entry nr. 3: the vertical communication and traffic system located in the front is overcomplicated and, according to the committee, is farfetched.

Designers tried to meet the professional sports-related requirements, but it can be felt at each entry that they do not have experience at designing athletics stadiums. The plans were examined thoroughly from the point of view of the arena. Though the standards of the International Association of Athletics Federations were all respected, the professional rooms and catering establishments and equipment were not placed adequately.