The arena was designed and built by the Austrian architect Roland Rainer in the years 1961 to 1964. It used to be called Stadthalle Bremen until the financial services provider Allgemeiner Wirtschaftsdienst (AWD) bought the naming rights in January 2005. Contrary to what the new name suggests, the AWD-Dome is in fact not a dome. The name "Dome" was probably chosen because an AWD-Arena already exists in Hannover. At the same time EUR50 million were invested into the venue to modernize and expand it from 3,500 to 14,500 seats. The architect Thomas Klumpp led these renovations. When AWD withdrew its sponsorship at the end of 2009, the venue was renamed to Bremen-Arena, effective 1 January 2010. On 11 September 2011, the arena became known as the OVB Arena.