Abandoned 100-Year-Old Hospital Revived as College Student Center

“This project was a rare opportunity to incorporate terrazzo that old into new construction,” said Blakley, a member contractor of the National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association.

“While you can’t bring the old terrazzo back to higher standards than what it was built to, you can bring it back to what it was like when first done,” said Blakley, of the Blakley Corporation of Indianapolis. The renovated terrazzo “looks old,” he noted, only in that the colors aren’t trendy today.

He added that the original terrazzo probably looks even better after renovation than the day it was first installed. It natural patina and irregularity of colors, though presenting a challenge for new color matching, lend the floor its well-earned character. The classic, retro design unifies old and new throughout the facility.

“Terrazzo allows for a design of patterns to flow from space to space that you can’t do with other materials, and it is a hard surface with a high level of durability,” explained project architect Kevin Shelley, AIA, LEED AP, principal at Schmidt Associates in Indianapolis. “Your imagination is almost the limit of what you can do with it.”