This is an architectural plan showing the aerial view of the Oxford Ice Rink designed by Grimshaw Architectsd and commissioned by The Oxford City Council in 1983. It was to be a facility and a social centre for young people. Its allocated site was a meadow on the periphery of the city, which meant that a landmark scheme needed to be created to draw the public to such a relatively isolated spot.

With a small budget and a site constrained by difficult ground conditions, Grimshaw took a structural approach to deal with these limitations. The building design comprises a large, centralised column-free space and thus a wide span to reduce the need for extensive piling. The building is in this way suspended alleviating the load of the widespan roof.

A spine beam, formed from a pair of rectangular box sections runs the full length of the building and supports the Ice Rink. This 'beam' is hung from two 30-metre high masts at either end of the building. The architects planned that these 'high readers' act as signs, visible at a distance from Oxford City Centre and function as a contemporary foil to the city's famous spires.

Its structural shell provides a column of free space and houses a 56m x26m rink. The cladding system is tailored to the building: two thirds of the Ice rink is clas in cold store panels to suit the function of the building, and the remaining facade to the north is fully glazed.