Ice Stadium in Wolfsburg
After gaining promotion to the top division in Germany, the Wolfsburg ice-hockey club was obliged to bring its stadium up to date in compliance with the conditions of the sport’s governing body, the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). The existing arena, dating from the 1980s, no longer met these requirements, and an investor-backed project for a new structure at a cost of € 26 million unfortunately proved abortive. A low-cost stadium had to be erected quickly. The city of Wolfsburg jumped into the breach as financial backer, but with a much smaller budget of € 7.5 million – in other words, less than a third of the sum originally envisaged. The architects carried out the design and construction planning parallel to each other, so that it was possible to go out to tender with virtually no further de- lay. Cost savings were made through a functional and constructional minimization of the planning that already existed. Incorporating a very small part of the existing hall, the original design concept was simplified, and the foyer and VIP areas were pared down. The originally curved walls were planned not in in-situ concrete poured in formwork, but as semi- finished elements with a polygonal layout.
