Design Process of E-Effect

Recoding The Arena

“I like the idea of there being a kind of controlled chaos.”

- Frank Ghery

For centuries, arenas have been conceived as spatial typologies centered around performance. While the athlete or performer occupied the focal point, the audience was positioned as a passive figure surrounding this center. E-sports, a phenomenon that has only recently entered our lives, introduces a new mode of representation by detaching performance from a singular body and dispersing it across screens, digital networks, and simultaneous experiences.

This project inverts the conventional arena typology by removing performance from the center and transforming the spectator into an active participant within the spatial experience. The arena is no longer a void to be observed, but a landscape to be traversed, climbed, felt, and questioned.

Monumentality and Fluidity

The cube, selected as the primary mass of the project, is conceived as a universal and abstract symbol of the digital world. This clear, sharp, and monumental form represents the technological and contemporary nature of e-sports.

However, at the core of this absolute geometry lie two massive, fluid, and amorphous volumes. The tension between the cube and these forms spatially manifests the dualities of sharpness–fluidity, modernity–primitiveness, and control–chaos.

These fluid volumes transform e-sports from a purely digital spectacle into a primal and intuitive spatial experience.

Arena as a Spatial Sequence

The arena does not rely on a single viewpoint or a singular moment of experience. Instead, it offers a spatial sequence constructed through inclined surfaces, shifting orientations, and constantly changing perspectives.

Throughout this sequence, the user is at times challenged and at other times rewarded by the space. Elevated points reached by overcoming slopes become moments where the strongest perspectives and spatial pleasure are experienced. The arena is no longer a structure to be observed, but a topography to be physically experienced.

Reality, Virtuality and Illusion

The massive screens covering the interior surfaces of the building generate a deliberate illusion between physical space and virtual content. Architecture is no longer a static backdrop; instead, it transforms into a continuously evolving experiential surface in dialogue with digital media.

In this context, reality is not a fixed condition, but a phenomenon constantly questioned through movement, content, and perspective.

This project aims to rethink the e-sports arena not merely as a new program, but as an entirely new arena typology.