A sports arena that works for athletes, spectators and concert audiences

Poland's most ambitious sports and entertainment hall

In Puławy, Poland, a new sports and entertainment arena was built with ambitions well beyond the local level. Designed by architect Janusz Gąsiorowski, the MOSIR hall seats over 3,200 people across fixed stands, a VIP sector and telescopic seating. Its 2,700m² North American maple floor, the largest of its kind in Europe, meets international requirements for European-level sports competitions. The hall is also fully equipped for television broadcasts and music concerts.

The sports community was consulted throughout the design process, with athletes and clubs invited to give feedback on functionality before plans were finalised.

A hall of this ambition deserved acoustic performance to match. But delivering that in a space this size and this varied in use is one of the hardest challenges in building design.

Glass, concrete and 3,200 people: An acoustic challenge at scale

The main hall is built mostly from glass and concrete, two materials that reflect sound rather than absorb it. In a space this large, that creates reverberation that builds fast and is very hard to control.

The challenge was compounded by the hall's dual purpose. Good acoustics for a basketball match, where speech intelligibility and low reverberation are critical, look very different from what's needed for a concert. And what works acoustically for an empty arena changes significantly when it fills with 3,200 people.

A professional acoustician was brought in at the conceptual stage to set the parameters and guide the design. Their brief was to exceed, not just meet, the applicable Polish standard for reverberation in sports halls.

The question was whether that was achievable in a hall this large.