Ice Rink of Liège, Sports Building Belgium, Belgian Arena Design images
Ice Rink of Liège, Belgium
Arena Building Development in Belgium design by L’Escaut Architectures SCRL
post updated 20 May 2024
Liège Ice Rink Arena
Location: province of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium
Design: L’Escaut – Weinand (Momentary Association)
photo © Marc Detiffe
11 Aug 2013
Ice Rink of Liège
For me this building is all about the exterior: shaped like a whale, very eye-catching but why? Previously we have shown the ‘Amazing Whale Jaw‘ bus station in neighbouring Netherlands and there are other zoomorphic buildings in northern Europe such as Renzo Piano’s Nemo in Amsterdam. The interior of the building is not to dissimilar to many other ice rinks around the world which suggests we’re in the ‘decorated box’ architectural territory discussed by critics such as Charles Jencks and architects such as Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.
The pursuit of the icon has led much large-scale architecture of the last decade (Iconic Architecture) and has been criticised for producing stunning but ’empty’ architecture lacking the consistency and depth of say the International Style.
Non-architects lap it up, flocking to the latest exciting building such as Bilbao’s Guggenheim and can’t understand why architects don’t relax a bit and enjoy more colour and exuberance in their architecture (Icon Buildings + Iconic Buildings). But like any discipline, once you have been educated professionally you learn to appreciate the nuances and rigour of certain approaches to your chosen profession whether you are playing the violin or a fashion designer.
There often comes a polarity between those who know and those who don’t, for example haute couture and the general public. Buildings such as this ice rink help break down the division between intellectual architecture and the general public: people engaged with architecture is not a bad thing (and this building will make people smile!) but as an architect I have never felt the need for obvious metaphor in my designs. For me a layered architecture built on solid sustainable foundations works better.
Adrian Welch, e-architect Editor.
photo © Marc Detiffe
At the root of the project: a round, fluid and generous shape, as a metaphor of a universe of ice. As its construction progressed: a sea monster, a whale covered with 200,000 aluminum scales.
Public/Private
The new ice rink of Liège is embedded into a crevice of the Médiacité, private real estate development project which came to redevelop a former industrial site on the right bank of the Meuse. It inherits several constraints that it clarifies in an autonomous and unitary form, until incorporating the access to the mall’s car park in its climax: the whale’s head.
As the opacity of the building is essential to insulate it from the heat, it is its entire body, by its nature, its material and its shape that means the relational dimension it wants to maintain with its environment.
Moreover, the composition of its outer shell (on the mass-spring-mass principle) achieves a noise attenuation of 50db and protects the residents of the adjacent street.
Apart from a succession of portholes to the street sidewalk that suggest the activity of the strange object, the only transparent opening in the façade, is this bay as big as an antechamber that realizes a frank and larger indoor/outdoor contact.
On the one hand, the public building is integrated into the multitude of store names of the mall, as the main entrance is located at the “gallery” side. On the other hand, through its secondary entrance, it is inserted at the back of the service street of the shopping centre, giving a more positive urban value to this dead end.
This «public mammal», stranded behind a scene dedicated to consumers, plays with the shimmering of its metal skin and the glare of its white interior to attract citizens and encourage them to skate.
photo © Marc Detiffe
The whale’s head above the car park entrance
The main access to the car park of the mall is located at the only “end cap”, identity pointer of the rink. This dome is the most curved and spectacular area of the façade, where the careful scheme of the scales is revealed. This volume rises gently to allow cars to go.
A load bearing element straight out of the 70’s reminds us of the glorious past of Liège, a time when car was queen in town planning as in some architectural projects (residence Simenon and its included petrol station, residence Belvedere with its architectural ramp). Today, it is no longer welcome, but it is still omnipresent in the city. Why should we deny it? Let us honor it by adding the atmosphere of New York in the 20’s and its “diners”.
The interior space of the rink focuses on the heart of the matter: functionality, economy and pleasure.
Guided tour
In the Médiacité, at the entrance to the ice rink, a white light shower of 1000 lux indicates the direction of the world of ice. Once past the airlock chamber, we dive into an ambient temperature of 16°C all year round.
photos © Marc Detiffe
In the whale’s stomach
Upon arrival in the foyer, the whole rink and volume of the building is visible through a transparent metal wall. Here you can sometimes have a hint at amateurs, sometimes hockey teams or figure skaters. The skating area is directly accessible from the foyer.
We get our skates, pull them on and are ready to slide!
The “wood room” adjacent to the rink is a recreation room with a solid oak flooring. One can enjoy Liège waffles, perhaps even Lacquemants in October? As visitors, walking along the metal wall until the end, we are reaching the first floor and its cafeteria. On the way, by looking through the mesh, the kinetics of storage is shown: skate drying and sharpening.
While climbing the stairs, we discover the dome and a large window with rounded edges, and finally the carcass of a marine mammal.
Ah yes, the whale!
If we’re coming by car, we quickly identify that it is the glued laminated timber structure completely laid bare before our eyes that creates the strange shape previously penetrated. Are we inside the Venturi’s duck?
The scales ratio is therefore increased tenfold. Just a quarter turn to the right#8 and the rink, surrounded with its 1200 seats, presents itself to our eyes.
The inhabitants of Liège will recognize the seats of the former ice rink from Coronmeuse, hosted in the “Grand Palais des fêtes”, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1939.
During events, the cafeteria is transformed into a XXL taproom, integrating the walkway along the façade that merges with the rink volume: the domestic scale of the bar is then confronted with the massiveness and the emotion of a hockey match or a figure skating gala.
Thirsty racehorse
The pleasure of the skater, the player, the spectator and the visitor is made for by the space, but also by the performance of this tool: an outer shell with an insulation factor of K22, equivalent to a passive house ; 2 refrigeration units#10 developing 1000kW coupled with 4 sets of air coolers ; a ventilation system of the room with a flow rate of 60,000 m3/h for dehumidifying the air of the rink ; 80 spotlights ensuring a perfect homogeneity of 1200 lux during matches and competitions, particularly when broadcasted.
Formidable engineering was necessary to allow this sea monster to perform at a high level, but also to reuse consumed energy: heat pump, ventilation system and hot water tank recovering a part of the heat produced by the refrigeration units, a piping system as a Tichelmann loop to better distribute the cooling liquid under the rink and thus consume less.
During the preliminary studies, a connection to the heating system of the shopping centre was also considered to carry away part of the generated heat. It can still be done later if the centre wishes.
November 23, 2012.
The concession manager of the ice rink has recently been appointed for a ten-year mandate.
After seven years of studies and work, the handing over of the keys is scheduled at the end of this month.
We can only recommend you to go to Liège and its ice rink as from December 8, 2012.
L’Escaut Architectures SCRL
photos © Marc Detiffe
Liege Ice Rink – Building Information
Client: City of Liège
Funding: SPW Infrasports
Process: competition
Technical control: SECO
Project authors:
L’Escaut-BE Weinand (MA)
L’Escaut Architectures: David Crambert, Annelies Kums, Michaël Bianchi, Olivier Bastin, Claire Laborde, François Lichtlé, Déborah Vanderlinden, Tilman Gappa
Structure: Yves Weinand, Arianit Shevelli
Fluids: BET Nicolas Ingénieries
Acoustics: CAPRI acoustique
Health and Safety Coordinator: SIXCO
General contractor: Moury Construct
Timber structure: Lamcol
Cooling production: Axima Refrigeration
Electrical system: Balteau
Finishing: Keppenne
Surface areas: 7030 m2 GIA ; 7410 m2 GEA /
Budget: 9.310.000 € without VAT
Duration: 2007-12
Ice Rink of Liège images / information from L’Escaut Architectures SCRL
Location: Liege, Belgium, western Europe
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