ANKARA ARENA MULTI-FUNCTIONAL SPORTS HALL
Ankara Arena Sports Hall was built on a 46.000 sqm. land that belongs to the zone being reserved for sports activities through the master planning of the capital city. The 53.000 sqm. building was designed considering the particularities of urban life. The area is well-known for its crowd as it is close to such public spaces as the Main Stadium, Central Train Station, the Cer Modern Art Museum and the Fun Fair. For that, an urban plaza was developed in front of the building. Today, it functions as a meeting point and an event space for the city inhabitants. Moreover, a long pedestrian axis was proposed at the northwest side, which begins from the Ankara Cultural Center and ends at the Youth Park. The design was a candidate for the Mies Awards in 2011 and was awarded at the Cityscape in the same year.



Due to the urban characteristic of the region, an extraverted design was sought rather than accomplishing an introverted typology, which is typical of most sport buildings. The transparent facade helped in this respect. It was designed with clear glass, white colored horizontal and orange colored vertical sunshades. A typical section was created for the facade that surrounds the buildilng in an elliptical direction. Moreover, there are terraces that are placed at different levels and that help to attain this extraverted effect in the design. The users of the terrace develop diverse visual relationships with the city.
Furthermore, a decrease in the volumetric effect was also targeted for the four storey building. Like the glass facade, the 15 m. cantilevered roof that becomes thinner as it approaces the eave helps to decrease the volumetric effect.
The main hall was surrounded with service spaces -such as public toilets and dressing rooms- and the facade in the plan configuration. The entrances to the hall and the service spaces are defined not through doors, but through walls that are placed in parallel with each other and shifted in the x and y direction on the plan. The entrance walls are cladded with green and light orange architectural and signange elements. The visitor, which looks at the facade from the outside, can have different visual experiences when he/she focuses on these colored elements at the inside. He/she can experience an effect of phenomenal transparency -as was defined in the architectural theoretician Colin Rowe's well-known article that was written in the 60s- when he/she visualizes the layered walls.





Ankara Arena was opened in 2010 by hosting the game 5 of World Basketball Championship which was organized by FIBA, the Turkish Basketball Federation and the 2010 Organization Committee. Although the building was designed mainly for sports activities, it provides a space for such cultural activities, like concerts and congresses. The design was accomplisehd by following inclusive design principles; disabled, elderly people and families with children can easily use the building.
DESIGNOGRAPHY




Facade System Section

INTERIOR DESIGN




PLANS




SECTIONS