This is not a new idea. We have been hearing about the need to build a sports and concert hall next to the National Stadium for nearly twenty years. Today, Warsaw lacks a facility where concerts or sporting events can be held for several thousand spectators.
Where to organise a concert in Warsaw? When looking for an answer to such a question, the first thing that comes to mind is the National Stadium. However, this is often too large. As we read on the PGE Narodowy website, during concerts the arena can hold up to 80 thousand people at a time. However, there are few stars who could gather such an audience. Another shortcoming of the stadium is its acoustics, which is not the best for concerts.
What about other venues? Concerts in Warsaw are often held in Torwar. The Torwar hall was built in the 1950s to a design by Julian Brzuchowski and Danuta Breda. Although optimal acoustics can be achieved there, the downside again is the capacity. Too small this time. There are almost 5,000 seats in the venue, and with the right configuration 7,000 people can listen to concerts here. This is also too small to host world-class stars or international events.
The interior of the Torwar Hall:
Virtually all the capitals of European Union countries have their sports and entertainment halls. These are venues that can accommodate over 10,000 spectators. The need for such a venue in Warsaw was discussed nearly twenty years ago. In 2008, a competition was announced for the development of the area around the stadium. At the time, the concept prepared by the JEMS Architekci team with the Dawos studio was appreciated. The architects proposed that the planned buildings should respect the urban and natural values of the area as much as possible. The concept was to preserve the green character of the area, which stretches from Skaryszewski Park all the way to the Vistula River. It is a kind of corridor through which air flows to other parts of Warsaw. The area would be filled with a modern infrastructure with a sports and entertainment hall for about 20,000 people, a congress and conference centre, a hotel and skyscrapers up to 160 metres high. However, the concept remains only on paper (and in the visualisation below).
Now the Ministry of Sport and Tourism is returning to the thread of building a sports and entertainment hall in Warsaw. At a press conference held on 8 May, Minister Slawomir Nitras announced the construction of a 22,000-seat arena next to the National Stadium. Before the facility can be built, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism must take over the site from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
This planned size is not some magic number to fill for a metropolitan area of two million or a nation of almost 40 million. We have volleyball players, handball players. Poland is hosting or has recently hosted the World Championships in these disciplines,” the minister said at the conference.
In turn, on Thursday 27 June, the minister was a guest of RMF FM’s Morning Conversation. As he stressed, a concrete decision on the construction has not yet been made.
No decision has been made by the government on this issue. The most messed up was Minister Gliński, who, when he was Sports Minister for a while, took this land away from the Sports Ministry and allocated it to other institutions – wanting to deprive Warsaw of a sports and entertainment hall. We must legally reclaim this land. We are very close,” Nitras stated on RMF FM radio.
The minister estimates that the cost of building the new hall will be more than a billion zlotys. However, the deputy minister of Warsaw Renata Kaznowska is talking about a higher amount. Asked by the editors of Sport.pl, she said that the initial cost estimate for the construction of a hall for 20,000 fans could be estimated at 1.5 billion zlotys.
The vision for the development of the area near the National Stadium in Warsaw will probably start with the planned hall. As for the development of the other areas, we still have to wait.
source: Ministry of Sport and Tourism, PAP, RMF FM, Sport.pl
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