Looking to provide the city’s youth and adult hockey teams with more “ice time,” Johnny’s Ice House, a local urban institution with an existing facility on Madison Avenue, commissioned WKA to design this new three-story building just west of the United Center to house a full size rink and its support facilities. Space will also be leased to the Chicago Blackhawks for use as their practice facility.

The building will fill its site and re-make the street edge with a translucent back-lit screen-wall assembled from steel and plastic. The pre-cast structure beyond will be left exposed. Raw and direct, inside and out, the building’s aesthetic will be in keeping with the rough and tumble nature of its program. Parking is provided on the first floor, the rink and locker rooms on the second with administration and the Stanley Club, hosting post-game camaraderie, on the third.

General Contractor: H&R Johnson Brothers
MEP Engineer: Building Engineering Systems (BES)
Landscape Architect: Living Habitats