L'Escaut, Olympic Ice Rink in Liege, Belgium

And just when I though this was going to be another uneventful Wednesday, this super fun and eco-friendly project, landed on my browser.

Ice Rink of Liège by L'Escaut Architecture, Belgium - Photos by Marc Detiffe

Pretty impressive right? The new Olympic Ice Rink, in Liege actually looks like a whale.

Designed by L'Escaut Architecture, the Liege Ice Rink, is energy efficient and fun to be around.

The Architects said:

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.

Ice Rink of Liège by L'Escaut Architecture, Belgium - Photos by Marc Detiffe

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. 

Ice Rink of Liège by L'Escaut Architecture, Belgium - Photos by Marc Detiffe

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.  

Ice Rink of Liège by L'Escaut Architecture, Belgium

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.

For more stunning pictures, drawings and details, you can visit the Ice Rink of Liege page.