Great Park Ice and FivePoint Arena

A pioneering hockey and community center in Southern California

Great Park Ice and FivePoint Arena in Irvine, California combines the largest community ice complex in the region with a training facility for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). The $110 million, 280,000-square-foot project was designed around the vision of Ducks owners, Henry and Susan Samueli, to create a public resource to promote ice sports and health and wellness in the region.

In addition to serving as a center for hockey and skating, community amenities include a pub, amphitheater, classrooms and an array of outdoor public spaces. Three of the ice sheets are designed to NHL regulations; the fourth meets Olympic standards and will serve as the training facility for the U.S. Figure Skating team.

The design expresses the balance of creating an ice facility in Southern California’s desert climate. The design team incorporated the various phases of water throughout, including vapor, liquid and frozen, guiding guests through a sequential experience as they journey through the facility.

Entering the campus, they are greeted by a palm tree-lined pedestrian walkway and a 3,500-square-foot beach and boardwalk made of IPE wood, inspired by Southern California’s culture. The building’s façade features a ripple of silver fins mimicking the surface of the ocean, with pops of orange to represent the Ducks. In the curving hallways leading to the ice, the blue glass façade immerses guests in blue light, similar to the experience of a winding river.

Great Park Ice was financed by the Irvine Ice Foundation, a nonprofit created by the Samueli’s. At the end of the 50-year lease, ownership will revert to the community.

Contractor: Swinerton