Developing Open-Air Sports Facilities to Enhance Socio- Family Relations

Ice skating is a prominent winter sport, and ice rinks provide an excellent place for socio-family relation enhancement, which means that sports are indeed a great tool to enhance parents’ and children’s bond. Most ice rinks were built indoors in Southeast Asia since the climate is not suitable for outdoor-built facilities. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic raised a new challenge for this sport’s development. This study aims to determine whether an outdoor ice rink can be built in a tropical climate that also serves as a place for socio-family relationships to blossom. The method utilized is a research-based design where observational data from several ice rinks was interpreted into the notion of a healthy sports facility that is a synthetic ice rink with its technical advantages and unique atmosphere, setting an example of thoughtful design in correlation to a sport’s development. This innovative design concept offers a new attraction as open-air rinks add to the scenery, are energy-efficient, and are cost-effective since their maintenance is cheaper than mechanical, indoor ice rinks. Keywords: ice rink, socio-family relations