I heard they are keeping discovery mall,things are going upside down.
:'(
Good
literally no one goes there anymore like probably 20 people a day idk why people are super sad! i’d rather it become a park or whatever. its kinda useless i think malls should create an ice rank like dubai mall or something
I can say same about Kuwait Towers, scientific center, entertainment city.
Ice skating rink in the malls are generally small and good for one time in a lifetime ride, its a different experience.
If i compare Kuwait of the 90’s and today, the former had more fun things to do.
All those places are regularly used by individuals, the Kuwait Towers always has people and is packed in weekends and kuwaiti food night while also being used when guests visit.
Scientific center actually adds value to society especially now that it has labs with the expansion.
Just because it means something to you doesn’t mean it adds value to society, the fact is it was sitting on people’s houses, imagine being a child and being evicted by the government, they say your home will be “extremely important to kuwait’s development” only to find your house has become literally child’s play.
If you ever went there maybe you’d know that a lot of people went there. I know I went there every week, and so did hundreds of others. You want ice skating in a mall? You know how expensive dubai mall ice skating is? Its somewhere around 9kd per 1.5hrs. An ice skating rink is needed for everyone to enjoy their sport, and not for stuck up rich people to go and take a couple instagram photos because its the new, cool, expensive thing to do.
I agree on your comment ✅✅✅, I have been teenage and adult years, most ppl in Kuwait spent there childhood and adulthood there. I was part of Kuwait history.
if you make interests and more fun, people will come!
such a sad crime.
this is our best childhood memories
and one of the best Kuwait’s historical places.
50% of my childhood was in the Ice skating ring :`(
they respect money, not people not history not art .. just money!
I can’t be more heart broken today!
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻😢😢😢
Otto, it’s’ called NOSTALGIA!!
*Millenial tears*
+1 lol
I’m sorry but I don’t understand the sentiment and the passion that only bubbles up only when something is going to be demolished. The same thing with the Sawaber. No one cared about it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looked like it was falling apart and not being maintained. But the minute it was announced that it was being demolished, everyone automatically cared and started protesting and signing petitions. Where was the love before? The same thing with the skating rink. Only a handful of people every visited it. It was pretty much empty whenever we went. Yes it was a cool place for the few of us who did go regularly, but I’m sure running costs outweighed the income it generated. If you really care about something, don’t show a little half ass passion at the last minute.
+1
It’s psychological! Most people favor the concept of everlasting vs. it’s all temporary. There’s no shame in that, except for the fact it’s all based on Fear (unhealthy attachment).
People want to complain whether government builds or demolish or didn’t do anything.
So, you’re not wrong in a way, but only because you’re looking at it differently.
In all countries, old buildings that once served an important part of society nowadays are sometimes no longer as important. Churches, government buildings, fire stations, factories, stadiums etc.. Lots of examples all over the world.
A lot of times those buildings get demolished to make way for something new, but sometimes, buildings which over time became an important landmark, maybe because of the history, architecture, or some other reason, instead of getting demolished the building gets repurposed.
So you’ll see a lot of these examples all over the world but not looking too far, in Qatar an old Fire Station was turned into a creative hub
So like you and other people have highlighted, the rink was empty most of the time, but instead of demolishing it the building could have been repurposed for something else. Maybe turned into a concert hall or an expo hall or maybe turned into a skatepark. There are a lot of interesing ways of repurposing a visually important landmark without having to completely demolish it.
It is no wonder that people who live in this country, especially the new generation has no attachment to their surrounding or built environment because their surroundings are constantly being demolished and rebuilt and later on be demolished within a very short time frame. Back in the days an artist visited Kuwait and compared it to a painter constantly drawing and tearing away the drawing because they are not happy with the result. Look at the results we have now in terms of buildings. No wonder people seek to travel to other countries where people have more attachment to their city. So many people have attachment and sentiment towards Mubarakia for example. I don’t care about it’s “cultural value” as much as it is really a social space that catered over the years with its benches and open spaces to men who play certain games like backgammon or even have chats. I don’t think people realize the importance of these buildings in terms of activities and opportunities of meeting and socializing in a public space. Kuwait can be very alienating if you are an expat with no family or relatives. These places provide opportunities to make friends and provide youth with acitivities.
When they demolish discovery’s play area, in a couple of years you might understand.
Ice skating is a heritage building first of its kind in the gulf to have wooden structure in the roof,designed by a French architect,it could have been kept or renused as a theater or for exhibitions whatever they build there I doubt it would be as wonderful as the ice skating ring
They are building Extreme Sports center at the same place. And yes…Discovery remains..commercial issues.
There was planty of space there and I also think they should have saved rink and unique wood roof…lovely performance area.
I have a PDF presentation dated Feb 27, 2020 for an ice skating rink thats supposed to be built in Al Shaheed Park. There will be an ice skating rink, snow park, ice tubing, zip lines, and sledding. So sadly it looks like they’re replacing the ice skating rink with another one.
But I do have to point out something. They didn’t technically demolish the rink, they actually took it apart, like they dismantled it piece by piece. Isn’t that odd? Are they planning to refurbish everything and put it back together?
I does depend on what phase they are planning the winter wonderland, the masterplan shows the shaheed park stretches from dasman palace to the Rolls Royce roundabout. It is possible that they could store the building until the phase where it is needed (if they arent using it for this phase) plus eitherway what ever the diwan do usually is incredibly good.
It may have contained asbestos, if it did hopefully no workers or people nearby were exposed.
The fact is mark is has no body used it and it has a terrible record lf people getting badly hurt, i am still shook from seeing my friend slice her leg open there. Not to mention the how worker intensive and energy draining it was to ice skate in 50 degree heat.
I hope in phase 4/5 they replace the red mosque with zaha hadid’s mosque that was planned for the avenues (idk what the avenues would want it for), the Diwan has the plan and the government paid for the plan if im not mistaken. But i hope they add a phase 6 where they add the car park infront of the Sheraton, the gate round about and the big patch of sand outside the opera house because those areas aren’t part of the master plan sadly.
They opened new skating rinks in the avenues mall so maybe no one goes there anymore
I remember going to a concert there on March 31 2008. Perhaps the most fun I’d had in Kuwait,
I had all 3 of my kids learn how to skate there ….. prices were affordable…… a new rink will probably be by a company not by govt and expensive…… welcome to progress
if you make interests and more fun, people will come!
They just don’t want it to run, or the unqualified management in Tourist Enterprise Company (شركه المشروعات السياحية)
The worst company biggest fail ever, it’s there to hire the people with Wastaa !!
what did they do to entertainment in Kuwait ?!
Closed Down (مدينة ترفيهية). destroyed everything good with no developments.
and the stupidity never stops.
Sad crimes to Kuwait, and nobody cares !
they care more about their burnt coffee with artificial flavors from Starbucks!
this place holds our best childhood memories.
and one of the best Kuwait’s historical places.
50% of my childhood was in the Ice skating ring :`(
They respect money, not people not history not art .. just money!
feeding the rich more and more.
I can’t be more heart broken today!
Sorry to say, the issue could be either due to the administration managing it directly that have no say other than to maintain it or the entity it was under if they were unable to adapt and utilize it properly. You don’t need mega buildings some locations have their old charm about them and this place could have been used for several events other than its main purpose. In the ’80s that building was constructed before that possibly other buildings. Kuwait major mistake in that everything needs to be in Kuwait city so you lost the old 1930s Kuwait demolished that do later demolished mid-1950s Kuwait and so on. The 1st ring road, if seen on the map looks like a horn 1/3 land 2/3 sea no where to spend causes a traffic bottleneck for Kuwait. The 1st ring road too 7 years to complete in the 1980s and trams could have been setup then that have been in England since the 1860s and recently seen in Dubai. Vegas is in the middle of the desert with no near water supply and is one of the States vibrant cities despite the reputation has evolved into a Family travel destination. So much hertiage, a proof of level Kuwait had reached during the last century being whipped off for no reason.
The irony of the matter is apparently they will have a museum of the ice skating rink.
The new kids just don’t get architecture or heritage because they were unfortunately not exposed and people don’t build thinan in Kuwait with inspiration and heart anymore it’s about how much money you can squeeze
Has ANYONE EVER ASKED how SUSTAINABLE is an ICE SKATING RINK in a desert country with an average temperature arouind 47C for months on end. Do you know the energy needed for anyone to have ‘fun’ on that, for year after year? Now this is not aplicable just for Kuwait but anywhere else.
Do some research and see what it all means, but I guess people won’t understand.
2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
34 replies on “The Ice Skating Rink is Gone”
I heard they are keeping discovery mall,things are going upside down.
:'(
Good
literally no one goes there anymore like probably 20 people a day idk why people are super sad! i’d rather it become a park or whatever. its kinda useless i think malls should create an ice rank like dubai mall or something
I can say same about Kuwait Towers, scientific center, entertainment city.
Ice skating rink in the malls are generally small and good for one time in a lifetime ride, its a different experience.
If i compare Kuwait of the 90’s and today, the former had more fun things to do.
All those places are regularly used by individuals, the Kuwait Towers always has people and is packed in weekends and kuwaiti food night while also being used when guests visit.
Scientific center actually adds value to society especially now that it has labs with the expansion.
Just because it means something to you doesn’t mean it adds value to society, the fact is it was sitting on people’s houses, imagine being a child and being evicted by the government, they say your home will be “extremely important to kuwait’s development” only to find your house has become literally child’s play.
If you ever went there maybe you’d know that a lot of people went there. I know I went there every week, and so did hundreds of others. You want ice skating in a mall? You know how expensive dubai mall ice skating is? Its somewhere around 9kd per 1.5hrs. An ice skating rink is needed for everyone to enjoy their sport, and not for stuck up rich people to go and take a couple instagram photos because its the new, cool, expensive thing to do.
I agree on your comment ✅✅✅, I have been teenage and adult years, most ppl in Kuwait spent there childhood and adulthood there. I was part of Kuwait history.
if you make interests and more fun, people will come!
such a sad crime.
this is our best childhood memories
and one of the best Kuwait’s historical places.
50% of my childhood was in the Ice skating ring :`(
they respect money, not people not history not art .. just money!
I can’t be more heart broken today!
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻😢😢😢
Otto, it’s’ called NOSTALGIA!!
*Millenial tears*
+1 lol
I’m sorry but I don’t understand the sentiment and the passion that only bubbles up only when something is going to be demolished. The same thing with the Sawaber. No one cared about it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looked like it was falling apart and not being maintained. But the minute it was announced that it was being demolished, everyone automatically cared and started protesting and signing petitions. Where was the love before? The same thing with the skating rink. Only a handful of people every visited it. It was pretty much empty whenever we went. Yes it was a cool place for the few of us who did go regularly, but I’m sure running costs outweighed the income it generated. If you really care about something, don’t show a little half ass passion at the last minute.
+1
It’s psychological! Most people favor the concept of everlasting vs. it’s all temporary. There’s no shame in that, except for the fact it’s all based on Fear (unhealthy attachment).
People want to complain whether government builds or demolish or didn’t do anything.
So, you’re not wrong in a way, but only because you’re looking at it differently.
In all countries, old buildings that once served an important part of society nowadays are sometimes no longer as important. Churches, government buildings, fire stations, factories, stadiums etc.. Lots of examples all over the world.
A lot of times those buildings get demolished to make way for something new, but sometimes, buildings which over time became an important landmark, maybe because of the history, architecture, or some other reason, instead of getting demolished the building gets repurposed.
So you’ll see a lot of these examples all over the world but not looking too far, in Qatar an old Fire Station was turned into a creative hub
https://www.firestation.org.qa/
So like you and other people have highlighted, the rink was empty most of the time, but instead of demolishing it the building could have been repurposed for something else. Maybe turned into a concert hall or an expo hall or maybe turned into a skatepark. There are a lot of interesing ways of repurposing a visually important landmark without having to completely demolish it.
Some pics of the Fire Station
http://aeb-qatar.com/project/fire-station/
https://www.qm.org.qa/en/fire-station-artist-residence
It is no wonder that people who live in this country, especially the new generation has no attachment to their surrounding or built environment because their surroundings are constantly being demolished and rebuilt and later on be demolished within a very short time frame. Back in the days an artist visited Kuwait and compared it to a painter constantly drawing and tearing away the drawing because they are not happy with the result. Look at the results we have now in terms of buildings. No wonder people seek to travel to other countries where people have more attachment to their city. So many people have attachment and sentiment towards Mubarakia for example. I don’t care about it’s “cultural value” as much as it is really a social space that catered over the years with its benches and open spaces to men who play certain games like backgammon or even have chats. I don’t think people realize the importance of these buildings in terms of activities and opportunities of meeting and socializing in a public space. Kuwait can be very alienating if you are an expat with no family or relatives. These places provide opportunities to make friends and provide youth with acitivities.
When they demolish discovery’s play area, in a couple of years you might understand.
Ice skating is a heritage building first of its kind in the gulf to have wooden structure in the roof,designed by a French architect,it could have been kept or renused as a theater or for exhibitions whatever they build there I doubt it would be as wonderful as the ice skating ring
They are building Extreme Sports center at the same place. And yes…Discovery remains..commercial issues.
There was planty of space there and I also think they should have saved rink and unique wood roof…lovely performance area.
I have a PDF presentation dated Feb 27, 2020 for an ice skating rink thats supposed to be built in Al Shaheed Park. There will be an ice skating rink, snow park, ice tubing, zip lines, and sledding. So sadly it looks like they’re replacing the ice skating rink with another one.
But I do have to point out something. They didn’t technically demolish the rink, they actually took it apart, like they dismantled it piece by piece. Isn’t that odd? Are they planning to refurbish everything and put it back together?
I does depend on what phase they are planning the winter wonderland, the masterplan shows the shaheed park stretches from dasman palace to the Rolls Royce roundabout. It is possible that they could store the building until the phase where it is needed (if they arent using it for this phase) plus eitherway what ever the diwan do usually is incredibly good.
It may have contained asbestos, if it did hopefully no workers or people nearby were exposed.
The fact is mark is has no body used it and it has a terrible record lf people getting badly hurt, i am still shook from seeing my friend slice her leg open there. Not to mention the how worker intensive and energy draining it was to ice skate in 50 degree heat.
I hope in phase 4/5 they replace the red mosque with zaha hadid’s mosque that was planned for the avenues (idk what the avenues would want it for), the Diwan has the plan and the government paid for the plan if im not mistaken. But i hope they add a phase 6 where they add the car park infront of the Sheraton, the gate round about and the big patch of sand outside the opera house because those areas aren’t part of the master plan sadly.
They opened new skating rinks in the avenues mall so maybe no one goes there anymore
they opened an Olympic sized ice skating rink in bayan https://248am.com/mark/sports/kuwait-winter-games-in-bayan/
I remember going to a concert there on March 31 2008. Perhaps the most fun I’d had in Kuwait,
I had all 3 of my kids learn how to skate there ….. prices were affordable…… a new rink will probably be by a company not by govt and expensive…… welcome to progress
if you make interests and more fun, people will come!
They just don’t want it to run, or the unqualified management in Tourist Enterprise Company (شركه المشروعات السياحية)
The worst company biggest fail ever, it’s there to hire the people with Wastaa !!
what did they do to entertainment in Kuwait ?!
Closed Down (مدينة ترفيهية). destroyed everything good with no developments.
and the stupidity never stops.
Sad crimes to Kuwait, and nobody cares !
they care more about their burnt coffee with artificial flavors from Starbucks!
this place holds our best childhood memories.
and one of the best Kuwait’s historical places.
50% of my childhood was in the Ice skating ring :`(
They respect money, not people not history not art .. just money!
feeding the rich more and more.
I can’t be more heart broken today!
Sorry to say, the issue could be either due to the administration managing it directly that have no say other than to maintain it or the entity it was under if they were unable to adapt and utilize it properly. You don’t need mega buildings some locations have their old charm about them and this place could have been used for several events other than its main purpose. In the ’80s that building was constructed before that possibly other buildings. Kuwait major mistake in that everything needs to be in Kuwait city so you lost the old 1930s Kuwait demolished that do later demolished mid-1950s Kuwait and so on. The 1st ring road, if seen on the map looks like a horn 1/3 land 2/3 sea no where to spend causes a traffic bottleneck for Kuwait. The 1st ring road too 7 years to complete in the 1980s and trams could have been setup then that have been in England since the 1860s and recently seen in Dubai. Vegas is in the middle of the desert with no near water supply and is one of the States vibrant cities despite the reputation has evolved into a Family travel destination. So much hertiage, a proof of level Kuwait had reached during the last century being whipped off for no reason.
The irony of the matter is apparently they will have a museum of the ice skating rink.
The new kids just don’t get architecture or heritage because they were unfortunately not exposed and people don’t build thinan in Kuwait with inspiration and heart anymore it’s about how much money you can squeeze
Has ANYONE EVER ASKED how SUSTAINABLE is an ICE SKATING RINK in a desert country with an average temperature arouind 47C for months on end. Do you know the energy needed for anyone to have ‘fun’ on that, for year after year? Now this is not aplicable just for Kuwait but anywhere else.
Do some research and see what it all means, but I guess people won’t understand.