Award Winning Terrazzo in the Home of the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo

American Terrazzo Company of Garland, Texas, was awarded the National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association (NTMA) 2021 Job of the Year for the terrazzo installation in the Dickies Arena.

We spoke with architect Steven Horwitz, the project manager with David M. Schwarz Architects (DMSAS) of Washington, DC, about the installation and receiving the terrazzo industry’s highest honor.

Mr. Horwitz has been with DMSAS for 16 years. Both the firm and Mr. Horwitz have an extensive history with high-profile Fort Worth architecture, including Sundance Square, Bass Hall, National Cowgirl Museum, and Texas Rangers ballpark. It was on Dallas’ American Airlines Center that DMSAS first collaborated with American Terrazzo.

Beginning as a young architect hired a year out of college, Mr. Horwitz related that the firm’s guiding principle of paying close attention to each project’s minute details has marked him the most. During the last year of the arena’s construction, he made weekly trips to the job site, adding, “They call me ‘Mr. Fort Worth’ in the office.”

Checking and rechecking the alignment of the developing floor pattern to the rest of the design elements was one of his regular rounds. He credited American Terrazzo’s engagement and attention to detail during those site visits for “a hugely successful finished product.”

“Terrazzo is a cost-effective material that enabled DMSAS to create a beautifully artistic, durable, and low-maintenance flooring surface,” Mr. Horwitz said.