Abstract: The subject invention is an air cooled ice rink construction in which the means for cooling the slab of the ice rink is separated from the ground under the slab by a region accessible to air external to the ice rink enclosure. The means for cooling the slab of the ice rink may be a circulating flow of mechanically-cooled air or, if the air external to the ice rink enclosure is sufficiently cool, it may be a circulating flow of such external air. The ice rinks constructed according to the subject invention may be operated at significantly lower operating costs than conventional ice rinks.