Qudos Arena
Homebush, Sydney
Qudos Arena (formerly known as Sydney SuperDome and Allphones Arena) is a wholly enclosed, fully air-conditioned arena with seating for up to 21,000 people – the largest indoor multipurpose hall in the Southern Hemisphere. It has been designed as a completely flexible entertainment and sports facility permitting a diverse range of performances from international sports such as basketball, and tennis, to international music acts and unique global entertainment as motocross and travelling circuses.
The Complex also includes a separate warm-up court, capable of holding up to 1,000 spectators, which can operate independently from the main foyer as a function and exhibition space. The adjoining car park, with space for 3,400 cars, is the largest parking structure in the Southern Hemisphere.
The facility has been realised as a long, horizontal and translucent building, scaled to unify with a lightweight verandah structure that wraps around two sides of the dome. Due to the scale of the Arena, a system of tall mast structures, visible from all surrounds, were developed around the stadium, like a coronet. As a result, the total complex appears delicate and permeable, in contrast to typically solid indoor sports centres.
The lightweight and delicate appearance is accentuated by a thin line of cantilevered and free-standing colonnade edges that are supported by fine, tree-column structures. The cable-suspended, truss roof system appears equally delicate, yet spans 150 by 120 metres. With an expansive glass façade, 1,884 tonnes of reinforced steel integrated into the design and 25km of roof purlins alone, Qudos Arena is a feat in engineering for its time.
Qudos Arena was purpose designed and constructed for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics, hosting a wide range of sports from gymnastics, trampoline, the basketball finals and wheelchair finals. Since then, the versatility and felixibility the arena has proven to be a premier host to the 2018 Invictus Games, 2015 Netball World Cup, the Australian NBL team, Sydney Kings, and the 2022 ATP World Finals Tennis Masters Cup.
