Firm to design new basketball arena

HOK and local practice TAC Arquitectes have been chosen to design a new 10,000-seat basketball arena for FC Barcelona opposite the club’s Camp Nou stadium.

The pair beat 19 others to land the prize with the new arena set to replace the 1970s built 7,500-seat Palau Blaugrana and due to open in time for the 2019/20 basketball season.

Best known for its football team, Barcelona also has a professional basketball team called FC Barcelona Lassa.

The new arena, which will also be used for a number of sports, will comprise three areas that can operate independently – a 10,000-seat arena, an auxiliary court for 2,000 spectators and an ice rink.

The win is a coup for HOK’s relatively new London-based sports division which was set up after the firm bought US stadium designer 360 Architecture in 2014.

HOK quit the sector when it spun off its sports practice back in 2008 which was then renamed Populous after a management buyout.

But the firm came back into the market last year when it set up the new division called Sports + Recreation + Entertainment under the leadership of its London director John Rhodes.

 

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