Proposed as a concept for Kolchyno, Ukraine, the Kolchyno Ice Center is a multi-sport venue that has an ice rink as well as a swimming pool, allowing for sporting competitions all around the year. Its highlight is the venue’s hyper-fluid architecture, which borrows from the flow of water and the gliding of skates and blades on ice.
Designer: Katia Orli
The flowy, organic design feels reminiscent of Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan – one of the most iconic buildings of our time. The Ice Center has multiple layers of flowing facades, creating a three-dimensional effect when viewed from the front. It almost looks like a mountain range or sand dunes, giving the effect of depth and fluidity through its wonderfully sculpted gentle curves. A river alongside the complex provides a beautiful inverted reflection of the structure, creating almost a sound wave of sorts, reinforcing the ‘wavy’ element the architect was going for.
The complex opens up the possibility for multiple sports, with a track and field on the outside, an Olympic-sized swimming pool in one wing of the interiors, and an ice rink in the other. The plan was to have a complex that can be used all year round, letting swimming activities and outdoor running/sports occur in the summer, while keeping the ice skating and hockey rink active throughout the year (especially in the winter). This perennial approach to the sports complex would keep it economically active through the year, bringing in money for the small town located in Western Ukraine, just an hour’s drive away from the Slovakian and Hungarian border.
The Ice Center is located in the village of Kolchyno, located 10 km from Mukachevo. The Kyiv-Chop International Highway runs through the village, helping connect the Ice Center to the rest of the country, and the Viznytsia River flows right alongside the complex.
