City of Bowie Ice Arena

In order to replace their existing rink in Bowie, MD, a suburb of Baltimore perched on the edge of the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the City had been through several attempts at a new facility. JLG completed a thorough examination in 2020, which included building concepts, site exploration, traffic study, and cost estimates. Originally built as an open-sided pole barn over 50 years ago, the walls were eventually filled in. However, the building envelope is failing, as is the refrigeration system. It is heavily used by the public for ice events, but the City wishes to expand offerings to off season. Therefore, the concept design is intended to allow access from the exterior in summer months as well as offering more public meeting and gathering space. The resulting facility is currently midway through final design en route to construction (expected in 2025). In addition to replacing the functions of the existing rink one-for-one, the design team was challenged to come up with design alternatives that would give the client choices and the ability to grow the project as time and funds allowed.