Meridian Skate

Meridian Skate (2016)
Meridian, Idaho, U.S.A.
Commercial, Skate Rink, Arcade

Meridian Skate is a skating rink that's actually being planned in Meridian, a town in Boise, Idaho. This is for real, ladies and gentlefolks. The building, however, is just a suggesting model. It's unsure if this model will be the actual building, but YES, The project is real. It's the first project that's actually being planned (and not by ME) on this website!!!

Let me give brief history, I missed a call, but there was a voice message. From the voice message, I assumed the caller noticed my 'KeepGoing' Skating Rink that I did a year and a half ago. Once I got a change to contact the caller, he explained to me that he's starting a skating rink and noticed (I assume) KeepGoing Skating Rink, and that it was similar to what he wanted to design. The caller, Scott, asked me if I could come up with something. I decided to give it try, to have a starting point in experience. I was very good at 3D modeling, but at the time, was learning to use a new program known as AutoCAD. This project was my learning station for AutoCAD.

Because this was a real project, I had to take this more serious than any other project. The building had to be about 20,000 - 21,000 square feet.

When designing the actual building. I assumed that Scott was going for a metal building considering the location was in a Sports & Industrial park-like environment, and also it was a skating rink. I felt that an arc would good for a roof. I also used another arc to decorate the front. As for the rest of the building, It's metal cladding with bricks added on to it. The front of the building is covered mostly in 3 different colors of brick cladding. I also placed a gray metal canopy, and used the Meridian Skate logo, that I found on their funding site, as a header for the canopy.

This 360 degree video shows the exterior shift of the building.

This video is an interior 360 degree shift of the rink. The rink is the most important part of the building. Excluding the roof, The skating rink is 17 feet high. Knowing the building has little space, It would look amusing if the skating rink were the size of an elementary school gym.

I rendered the inside of the building as well. I rarely design the interior part of the building, but just the exterior. Using the architecture floor plans that I designed on AutoCAD, I structured the walls, and placed the doors in their approximate right locations. After the measurements, and the scaling, the design and creative part came in. I noticed the inside of most buildings have guards under their roofs. I placed guards under the roof where the skating rink, herself, is. I also placed lights dangling down. Scott also wanted cement benches, so I removed the walls that I placed their earlier, and replaced them.

About the color scheme. I used gray, blue, purple, and green to have that appeal look towards Elementary and Middle school students. Of course, most of the population in skating rinks are kids and teenagers, so I want the color scheme to match the child to young adult age.

 Later on, I added in arcade machines and other miscellaneous stuff. This is the longest render from SketchUp that I had done from the inside yet. It took about 15 hours just the render this one image.

 This is just a SketchUp scene of the restroom and near the skate center. I also placed in the water fountains, and wooden tables. The restroom is going to be made of tiles. The doors are also polished wood.

This image is down the corridor. The walls, to the left, were changed into benches as I mentioned. I placed in cubby shelves just incase if they were necessary.

The picture, here, is toward the front entrance/ exit to the rink. From in the ticket booth lobby, which comes before the rink entrance/ exit, all walls would be made of bricks.

This is the floor plan that I worked on. No, It's not as crappy as the ones that I had done for self projects. When working on serious floor plans, I have to measure the spaces, the rooms, the doors, the windows, and I also have to be sure I stay within the boundaries of the size that was requested.  

Scott sent me several plans for the site. Several ideas that were suggested by Michener Investments, and also another floorplan of the skating rink designed by Neudesigns Architecture. The one that I focused on a little bit more, though, was the floor plan idea that Scott & his wife, Tammy, created in the image below. 

This was the first project that I did using Autodesk AutoCAD for interior design purposes on K. Ammons Designs. 

I designed how the site would look in a novice way. The land is pretty rich and clear for anything to be built.

I do thank Scott & Tammy for giving me this experience. I will place a link to their website below so people can take a look at what they're all of.

GO TO MERIDIAN SKATE WEBSITE