Madrid Arena is an indoor arena located in the city of Madrid, in the fairgrounds in the Casa de Campo, just minutes from the city centre. Built from the old Rocódromo, the pavilion was designed by Spanish architects Estudio Cano Lasso who designed this versatile building in 2001 to host sporting events, commercial, cultural and leisure activities. The pavilion was sponsored by the company Telefónica for what was also known as Telefónica Arena.
The arena was built in 2002 as part of the facilities planned for the Madrid 2012 Olympic bid. It was expected to house basketball competitions. The first phase was about in 2002, expanded the following year.
It is distributed on three floors (access, intermediate and low). Its central court has three retractable bleachers, allowing the surface to change depending on the type of event.[1]
It has a maximum capacity of 10,248 spectators for basketball and 12,000 for boxing and 30,000 m2. Its dome is 11,000 m2 and is supported by a three-dimensional structure supported on 181 piles. It has a skylight that can be opened, letting in natural light. The facade is composed of a double curve of glass, very light and variable transparency.
CB Estudiantes played its matches in the Madrid Arena from 2005 to 2010. It has signed a five-year contract with an option for another five. It hosted also all the games of the second round of the Eurobasket 2007.
Madrid Arena tragedy
On 1 November 2012, a human stampede [Wikidata] a Halloween party featuring Steve Aoki resulted in five girls being crushed to death and a further 29 people were injured.
There were 16,600 people crowded into the hall, authorized for 10,600.[5]
A few days later it was announced that the Madrid Arena was not going to host the Handball World Championship as expected, due to its safety problems.[6] In 2015 the Spanish writer Saúl Cepeda Lezcano, who worked for the main parties blamed for the tragedy, published the novel Aforo Completo (Full House).[7] The book uncovers many illegal activities in nightlife and clubbing activities that had led to a similar disaster.[8]
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