LARGEST DOME EVER BUILT

Designed by DP Architects and Arup Associates, the Hub proposal has been developed to fully utilise the strategic waterfront location and to create a new landmark in terms of space, form, and quality of experience. For circulation purposes, an extensive walkable pathway will be linked to transport systems, local pedestrian and cycle networks as well as to gardens and residential to create a sequence of continuous communal areas.

The complex is conceived as a unifying, protective canopy that links all parts of the arrangement through an open, public sports promenade. With a dimension of over 310m, it is the largest free spanning dome structure in the world.

The Hub’s focal point will be a national stadium, a state-of-the-art 55,000 seat sports venue, constructed with a movable roof and retractable seating to support the widest range of games for every season. It will be the first in the world that is custom-designed to host sports such as football, rugby and cricket all in one space with the ability to convert from one mode to another within 48 hours.

With green engineering in mind, the stadium will feature sky terraces with plantings and vertical gardens. Beyond maximising greenery and passive cooling measures, innovative engineering solutions have been integrated into the project to ensure minimal use of natural resources. The bowl cooling the main field achieves a 60% reduction in energy use when compared to a conventional structure of the same size and typology. The used energy is offset by power harnessed from renewable sources – making this a zero carbon cooled stadium.

The main dome structure itself uses one-third of the steel weight per square metre when compared to other large span constructs of this scale.