Indoor sports arena in the city quarter called Pasienky is the first large sports venue implementing a progressive design technology (structural engineer was Jozef Postulka). A principle applied in 1948 by Matej Nowicki at a stadium in Raleigh was adapted here into Slovak conditions. The roofing structure is made of steel cables suspended in two directions perpendicular to each other and thus creating a hyperbolic paraboloid surface. It is suspended from two parabolic concrete arches, spanning 73.5 x 67.5 metres (241 x 221 ft.). Cable roof structure also represents the main architectural feature here. Although the originality of the building lays in technical innovation of its cable roofing system, the architect managed here to upgrade a sheer technical solution into a work of high artistic value. Integration of the necessarily massive and technical supporting frame with a subtle and elegant facade, its transparency, airiness and harmony of the interior spaces makes this building one of the best works of Slovak architecture at the turn of fifties and sixties.
Bibliography:
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ČERVEŇ, Jozef: Športová hala v Bratislave. Projekt 4, 1962, 11 – 12, s. 235 – 238.
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CHOVANEC, Jozef – POŠTULKA, Jozef – ŠLACHTA, Štefan – VOJTKOVÁ, Viera: Športová hala na Pasienkoch v Bratislave. Projekt 33, 1991, 1 – 2, s. 34 – 37.
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DULLA, Matúš: Ľahká mimobežnosť moderny a tradície. Zvláštne (či) obyčajné polstoročie architektúry na Slovensku: 1939 – 1989. Architektúra Slovenska / Architektur Slowakei. Katalóg výstavy. Ed. Adolph Stiller a Štefan Šlachta. Viedeň, Verlag Anton Pustet 2003, s. 123 – 157.
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