Napur Architect - National Athletics Center - Budapest - Hungary

2025-06-20

The Hungarian State commissioned the National Athletics Centre as the starting building for the long-term urban design of the Budapest Southern City Gate development. The stadium was designed by architectural firm NAPUR Architect Kft., which won the design competition. Construction was carried out by the ZÁÉV Zrt. – Magyar Építő Zrt. contractor consortium. The main elements of the design are the new Athletics Stadium and Park to be established on the site of the Vituki industrial estate in Ferencváros, the planned new pedestrian and bicycle cable bridge connecting to the tip of North Csepel, and the new Athletics Training Center accessible through it. The three project elements aim to help the development of the region with a joint urban architectural vision. The design and appearance of the building were made in honor of the queen of sports, athletics; therefore, the architectural design of the stadium is an untouchable Antique classic white crown.

In accordance with sustainability aspects, the project was implemented by eliminating the brownfield industrial areas of Budapest on the southern Danube bank, and by rehabilitating its entire 20-hectare area. The goal was to create a new, open sports and recreational multi-purpose athletics stadium and public park for the capital for sports enthusiasts and city dwellers who want to relax. The building of the Athletics Stadium was built in the center of the park in competition mode for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, with a capacity of 35 thousand people. After the World Championships, the basic mode design of the Athletics Stadium building was completed in 2024. The stadium's temporary upper stands were removed and replaced by a 15,000-square-meter covered open and illuminated leisure park called the "Open City Ring", which included a running track, a family jogging track, a streetworkout, a training area, and a street food service. The goal was to create a stadium that would have a large capacity for the duration of the World Championships, but in the following periods it would be an open building that serves mass sports and athletics youth as much as possible, accessible to everyone 365 days a year.

First "Open Arena" in the world to implement this In September 2024, the first open program was held in the building, where the "Open City Ring" leisure park was presented as a new recreational place in Budapest. In the entire development area surrounding the stadium, from the Rákóczi Bridge to the Kvassay Lock, as well as through the new cable bridge to North Csepel, new flood protection works, coastal pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths, and boat stations were built. With the development, the pedestrian, bicycle, and water connections of the entire northern and southern areas of the Pest embankment were realised all the way to the southern part of the city. The goal was to create an attractive recreational district for city dwellers that can become part of the ecological network of the EU and Hungary.

The sustainability of the new "Green" investment is based on a maximally sustainable foundation, thanks to its continuous utilization as a multi-purpose event area and its renewable geothermal energy system. From the point of view of reducing the environmental impact, public transport solutions are preferred and the use of pedestrian bicycles are planned. The structural design of the stadium is a unique stretched roof structure made with optimized steel use, only the functionally most important areas of the building's interior spaces are heated, with the total floor area in the order of 10%. Taking into account these sustainability aspects, the world's first "Open Arena" was completed in 2024 in Budapest, designed by NAPUR Architect Kft.

Architecture-structure

The stadium building is an iconic building symbolizing the "Queen of Sports' Crown". Its steel-structured space ring, with openwork crystal geometry and floating space covering with a complex power play pulled cable structure, are unique in Hungary, and their unmistakable uniqueness has become an outstanding architectural and load-bearing structure engineering work, even on an international level.

Architecture-sustainability

It is of paramount importance that at least 5% of the total floor area of the facility is heated space, which is operated by 100% renewable geothermal energy supply. The facility, with a maximum capacity of 40,000 people during the World Athletics Event (WA_Budapest_2023) held in Budapest in 2023, is the first arena in the world where the upper 25,000-seat rented temporary grandstand was removed after a world event, and its grandstand elements were moved to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Thus, the facility went into default mode the year after the World Cup. At that time, with the help of the implemented plans, the maintenance and facility operation was reduced to an ideal long-term condition with a constant capacity of 15,000 people. The appearance of the stadium has been transformed into a completely openwork indoor open community space.

Urban architecture

The new Athletics Centre on the banks of the Danube is the first indoor open arena where an "URBAN COMMUNITY RING" was implemented by demolishing the upper grandstands and replacing them. The approximately two-hectare sports and recreation area established on the site of the upper stands has been occupied by the sports tourism loving population of Budapest from 2025. The very popular place invites those who want to relax. The new Open Arena is the new southern sports cultural gateway of the capital, which, together with the sports park around it, will successfully enrich the everyday lives of sports-loving city dwellers. Double Hungarian success at the world's most prestigious architectural competition: the National Athletics Center won the Public Choice Award!

Budapest's iconic sports facility, the National Athletics Center, achieved unparalleled success at one of the world's most significant architectural competitions, the 13th Architizer A+ Awards. After being selected by the prestigious professional jury among the top five entries from more than 80 countries, the Hungarian building was able to participate in the public vote and won the Public Choice Award in both categories based on hundreds of thousands of votes. This made it the best in the world in the Stadium and Arena and Sustainable Sports and Recreation Building categories. The unparalleled double victory means that the facility that hosted the 2023 World Athletics Championships is not only considered one of the world's elite, according to the professional jury, but has also won the hearts of the public interested in international architecture.

About NAPUR Architects Ltd

NAPUR Architect Ltd is a family-founded, (1992-) multi-generational intellectual and professional architectural workshop. Since its inception, the company has been involved in architectural design and has accumulated decades of experience as a lead designer in turnkey projects, from concept to completion.

The firm has numerous outstanding architectural works, has received many architectural awards, and is committed to architectural quality. Their mission is to execute the design of turnkey projects of unique, unrepeatable architectural appearance and function for both domestic and foreign clients.

The main profile of the company is architectural and interior design of public buildings, sport venues, cultural facilities, and sophisticated, bespoke residential villas of high quality. Highlighted projects include the National Athletics Center, Budapest 2023-2024, the New Museum of Ethnography, Budapest 2022, and Duna Arena, Budapest 2017.

Photo credit: Molnar, Jozsef