VTB Indoor Arena

Context

The Team

A First-of-Its-Kind Moscow Mega Complex Aims to Set a New Benchmark for EU Arenas    

Located just four blocks from the Kremlin in Moscow’s historical Petrovsky park, this multi-use, state-of-the-art sports entertainment complex with a high-end commercial district and five-star hotel grew out of the rubble of the demolished Dynamo Stadium. With the ambition to overtake London’s 02 Arena as the premier entertainment destination, the stakes were extremely high, not just for the corporate stakeholders but also for the Russian government, who had a huge investment in the project. As the largest city in Europe in a country with a deep tradition in sports, they counted on the development to transform the area for its 14 million residents. The indoor arena, one of the venue’s two sports complexes, also hosts mixed martial arts, boxing, basketball, and concerts and entertainment events.    

The Challenge

The venue, which features a football and hockey arena under one roof, was not just the first of its kind in Moscow, but in Europe. The indoor arena needed a sound system that could deliver an unparalleled experience for both sporting and entertainment events, with a special emphasis on ice shows, wildly popular in the country. all while not interfering with other engineering systems, blocking important video angles, or obstructing spectator views. The sound system needed to first, score the audience stands, and second, score the ice field itself so that athletes and artists can hear the musical accompaniment. 

That, it turned out, was only part of it. The renovation was plagued by delays, including a global economic crash that spawned a mid-project architectural redesign—sending engineers, who had worked tirelessly to design the sound system around the old design, back to square one.

The Solution

With the new architectural plans firm in hand, the engineers used Soundvision to determine that a center cluster above the media cube would achieve the best results. Alexander Ananyev, the acoustic engineer for Sonoruss, specified L-Acoustics K2 line arrays. A total of 54 cabinets in six hangs flown around the central scoreboard location provide coverage of the bowl audience seating. Eighteen ARCS Focus in six arrays of three are distributed evenly around the grid to cover the bowl floor for sporting events where this is a requirement. To achieve optimum results, Sonoruss installed an acoustic lining to mute any surfaces that could reflect sound in a way other than intended. K2 provided a powerful, uniform sound coverage, and the lighter weight of K2 complied with the new design’s load restrictions. Another bonus was that the system is aesthetically pleasing to visitors. Since K2 is designed to be a touring system, it was simple and fast to install.   

System pictures

The Result

The K2 sound system not only delivers a powerful, unforgettable sonic experience at a variety of events at the VTB Indoor Arena but harmoniously complements the architecture. The client is thrilled, and the arena consistently gets raves from fans on social media. The venue’s first event was the sold-out figure skating adaptation of “Swan Lake,” starring Evgeni Plushenko in December of 2018.  

Project photo