address
architect
statics
construction
project
realization
Trnavská 29, Bratislava
Jozef Chovanec
Jozef Poštulka
Imrich Vaško
1958
1959 – 1962

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.

Literature:
Športová hala v Bratislave. Projekt 3, 1957, 7, p. 2.
ČERVEŇ, Jozef: Športová hala v Bratislave. Projekt 4, 1962, 11 – 12, p. 235 – 238.
KUSÝ, Martin: Architektúra na Slovensku 1945 – 1975. Bratislava, Pallas 1971. 286 p.
CHOVANEC, Jozef – POŠTULKA, Jozef – ŠLACHTA, Štefan – VOJTKOVÁ, Viera: Športová hala na Pasienkoch v Bratislave. Projekt 33, 1991, 1 – 2, p. 34 – 37.
KRIVOŠOVÁ, Janka – LUKÁČOVÁ, Elena: Premeny súčasnej architektúry Slovenska. Bratislava, Alfa 1990. 200 p.
DULLA, Matúš: Architektúra šesťdesiatych rokov. Šesťdesiate roky v slovenskom výtvarnom umení. Katalóg výstavy. Ed. Zora Rusinová. Bratislava, SNG 1995. p. 305 – 319.
DULLA, Matúš – MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20.storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002, 512 p.
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, p. 123 – 157.
Športová hala Pasienky. DOCOMOMO národný register: Slovensko. Architektúra & urbanizmus 40, 2006, 3 – 4, p. XIV.

Source of picture.
Archív SAS, A Press
Ground plan:
Projekt, 1962