3XN completes SAP Garden, a new arena in Munich's Olympic Park - SAP Garden celebrates its opening on 27 September 2024. The project echoes the same democratic ideals as its historic surroundings, uniting sports and the local community in a state-of-the-art sports arena. Built on the site of the former Olympic Velodrome and with Frei Otto and Günther Behnisch's iconic Olympic Stadium as its neighbor, the new SAP Garden arena is informed by the legacy of its location and surroundings. The 62,500m² arena project is designed by 3XN in collaboration with CL MAP and landscape architects Latz + Partner for client Red Bull. "We are pleased to be opening the new SAP Garden arena, marking a new era for sport in the city of Munich," says Jan Ammundsen, Senior Partner at 3XN. "The project has been a meaningful opportunity for us to extend the architectural legacy of the Olympic Park. It was important for our design to fit the modern sports facility into the existing, historic Olympic Park in a seamless way. We hope that it will become a focal point that gathers locals to experience and take part in sports." The sports arena is the new home of ice hockey team EHC Red Bull Munich and basketball team Bayern Munich while three additional ice rinks serve as training and public facilities. The bowl can gather up to 10,700 spectators for ice hockey and 11,500 for basketball. Beyond the sports facilities, the arena offers three levels of VIP areas, merchandise shops, a large restaurant, a gaming room, offices and conference rooms, a parking garage, and a public rooftop terrace.

Melting into its historic context - Adding a new structure into Behnisch & Partner's protected Olympic Park landscape posed a complex design challenge: how to respect the integrity of the park while also accommodating the significant spatial needs of the world-class sports facility? To solve this, the design team concealed the arena's three additional ice rinks underneath an artificial hill that organically continues the park's existing pathways and landscape design. The arena itself is oval-shaped and asymmetrical in both its height and shape, forming an organic appearance which together with a green roof lets the building melt into the park and the cityscape. "The Olympic Park is both in its architecture and landscape designed around the human scale," says Ammundsen. "The sports facilities are nestled in the green terrain which rolls and undulates around the now iconic structures. SAP Garden is designed with careful consideration for these existing characteristics to both preserve and also add a new element to the uniquely harmonious relationship between the buildings and the park." The arena's façade is dynamic and welcoming with vertical pilaster strips that swing upwards and accentuate the glass-panelled entrances. Each of the 260 pilaster strips is unique in its geometry with the largest being over 18 meters tall and weighing one ton. This gives the building a dynamic façade expression – at the same time simple and complex.

A place for the public - SAP Garden is designed as a catalyst for activity - both on game days and 'off days'. As a sports arena, it is a destination for the many with the ability to house ice hockey, basketball and a multitude of third-party events. On days with no official activities, it remains a place full of life. Beyond serving as training facilities for professional players, the arena's three additional ice rinks are built with the vision of improving the local sports infrastructure. All year round the rinks are open for schools, clubs, and the public to use, becoming a place that gathers and strengthens local grassroots sports. Above ground, sports fans can browse the merchandise shops while the e-sport community gains a home with the ambitious Gaming Garden - the new gaming hotspot for southern Germany. A restaurant with both indoor and outdoor service lets life unfold between the internal and external spaces while the top of the arena is a new destination for Munich with a rooftop terrace that invites everyone to enjoy the views over the park and cityscape. "We focused very much on what will happen on the ice or the parquet floor. What happens here is the reason why you come to the building, and we wanted to create an atmosphere of intensity," explains Ammundsen. "Of course, it is also essential that the architecture is clear and intuitive enough that people can find their way quickly and move around without difficulty. But when you are sitting in your seat watching the game, the building should fade into the background. Then it is all about the atmosphere."

A unique, full-scope arena design - SAP Garden is at the forefront of arena designs, shaped to create an intense atmosphere and fan experience while being adaptive to its shifting purposes. Switching between an ice rink and a basketball court is a complicated matter as the two are different sizes. To accommodate this and ensure courtside seating for both sports, a unique stand system has been developed. The existing stands can be shifted in height and slope while mobile stands are added for basketball games, placed on top of the covered rink, to create more seating. 3XN's scope also includes interior design where the use of digital media and light creates a flexible color palette that can change the ambiance of the arena in line with the branding or occasion. As such, the interior is centered around a variety of atmospheres and identities. Areas and rooms are individual in their design which lets the users have unique experiences throughout the building. At the same time, all spaces have small design elements in common that tie the building together as a whole, creating an interior that is both cohesive and playful.

"There is a reason why we go to arenas, why it is so important to be able to go in person: we want to experience a feeling. I believe that this feeling only arises when we experience something together," explains Ammundsen. "As architects, we want to help make this feeling in the hall as intense and exciting as possible. There are good tools for doing that: sound technology, and lighting technology. The main thing is that the experience is special, something that you cannot have anywhere else." SAP Garden is 3XN's third completed sports arena, following Royal Arena and Horsens Stadium in Denmark. The grand opening of the arena takes place on September 27 with an ice hockey game between the four-time German champions EHC Red Bull Munich and the Buffalo Sabres from the National Hockey League (NHL).