Ultra fast construction: the adaptation of a plan from Estonia
The issue of where to host major events for several thousand participants in Debrecen had been unsolved for a number of years. The demand had long been in the air for a state-of-the-art convention hall with a larger than average seating capacity, which could serve as a venue for seasonal fairs and expositions, music concerts, and other related events, as well as for international sports competitions. However, the final impulse was provided by the possibility of acting as the host for the 2002 World Championship in Gymnastics. It is true though that, for this very reason, the new hall had to be completed pretty fast; in fact, in less than 12 months. This was only possible by adapting the plans for an already existing sports hall from somewhere else. This somewhere else turned out to be the city of Tallin (Estonia), whose sports center, with some adjustments, corresponded to our local requirements, and its size and structure expedited the implementation of the construction on such a short notice. The idea worked: the construction of Főnix Csarnok was completed before the deadline and the World Championship in Gymnastics was a great success in October 2002. Since then the hall has acted as the venue for numerous other events (such as ice hockey, indoor soccer, basketball and handball tournaments, hot air balloon and ballroom dancing championships, ballet performances, music concerts, various exhibitions, conferences, and even ice-shows). The long list of celebrities having performed here ranges from Olympic champion Szilveszter Csollány and the rock band Deep Purple through Bryan Adams, Lenny Kravitz, Jean Michel Jarre, Joe Cocker, Jethro Tull to illusionist David Copperfield and a number of other famous athletes and artists.
Spacious and appealing
Főnix csarnok is located in a pleasant environment: close to the Nagyerdő area, near Rt. 4, along the thoroughfare to Kosice called Kassai út. The main façade of the building is arched in a way that you can look at it from several angles as you drive along Kassai út and it will always look different from the different perspectives. As you step inside through the main entrance, you immediately find yourself in the arena space. This feature ensures that the spectators will not miss a thing, as there is a superb view of the events even from the foyer and connected aisleways. All the office rooms, engineering premises, and freight entrances are situated at the far end of the building. Along one of the longitudinal sides of the amphitheater, there are locker rooms and service facilities for the athletes, while the other side is actually a multifunctional area that can be freely divided with the help of relocatable partition walls. The four corners of the building comprise individual ”towers” of staircases for accessing the upper floors either by walking or by riding in elevators. There is an interesting playfulness noticeable in how the ground floor inside the building is sunk slightly lower while the first floor rises higher than the actual ground level outside.
Anything is possible!
The arena proper is fully surrounded with telescope-joint stands (and diagonally turned-in mobile bleachers in the corners). During concerts, the stage actually replaces the stand at the far end of the hall and the entire arena floor is available for the audience to occupy. The props and technical equipment required for the performances can be moved into the arena section through two larger size freight entrances that are 2.5 and 4 meters wide respectively. The gym storeroom next to the gates is accessible from several sides due to the huge sliding doors, and a configuration of several separately lockable storerooms can be arranged if necessary, including rooms for track and field, gymnastics, martial arts, or ice-skating. Even the largest sized apparatuses can be freely moved about.
Behind the mobile bleachers, just underneath the ceiling of the first floor, there is a series of other service venues: locker rooms for the athletes, doctors’ rooms, changing rooms for the hall personnel, storage rooms, the electric substation room, the gym storeroom, and the fitness room.
Főnix Csarnok is connected to the adjacent Hódos Imre Sportcsarnok [Imre Hódos Sports Hall] through an underground passageway, so that the facilities could also be used during certain larger events for training or changing purposes or for offices, if necessary. The elevator serves this basement level, too, so the facilities are thus accessible even for mobility impaired athletes.
Fixed and mobile
The first floor is the level of the main entrances and of the stands. Finding your way is really easy: the fixed rows of seats of the stands open from the aisleways, while the mobile and telescopic rows of seats drop from the stairs of the permanent stands. There are 1081 fixed seats available on the first floor, with 2142 additional mobile seats. The layout of the second floor is similar to that of the first, except that there is a restaurant here above the entrance hall. Some of the tables are arranged in such a way that you can follow the events downstairs while sitting at them. There are only fixed rows of seats on the second floor with a maximum seating capacity of 1830. In the back, just above the office rooms, there is an engine room for climate control. This room has a double air-space: all the equipment catering for proper ventilation and air-conditioning in the hall are located here. The third floor is reserved for VIP treatment: it comprises stands, box seats, and a restaurant. There are eight or sixteen seats in these VIP boxes, which are separated from the arena space with a lockable glass wall, and they are equipped with a kitchenette and a bathroom. There is a fixed stand in front of each of these boxes that is accessible only from the box itself. The VIP boxes can seat 272 people altogether, while an additional 314 can follow the events downstairs while seated in the fixed stands.