The new sports complex is built on a plot adjacent to the famous Mediacite shopping center, designed by Ron Arad. Once industrial enterprises were located here, but now the industrial past of the place is only reminiscent of the technocratic design of both buildings and the abundance of metal structures used in their construction (Liege, as you know, is one of the leading suppliers of steel to the European market).
The building of the ice arena really resembles a whale in shape - a giant mammal with its "tail" adjoins the shopping center, and its rounded "head" is turned towards the city. An additional resemblance to a whale is given to the complex by the smooth facades, recruited from 200 thousand panels of polished steel, and the fact that the "head" is made in the form of a console, the "mouth" is the entrance to the underground parking, and the convex square window-porthole above it will quite pass for The "eye" of the animal.
There are practically no other windows here - the architects abandoned them in order to provide optimal illumination of the ice rink, so that only some of the administrative premises located along the perimeter of the ice arena have a visual connection with the outside world.
It is no coincidence that the new ice arena in Liege received the name Olympic - it is assumed that international competitions of the highest level will be held here. The total area of the skating rink is 6700 m2, and the complex can accommodate up to 1200 spectators at a time. On days free from competitions, it will be used as a training base for Belgian athletes and a skating rink for everyone.
A. M.
