How Today’s Terrazzo Designs are Transferred to the Floor

Prefabrication of elements

Prefabrication of complete terrazzo elements, such as base and stair sections, has been done since at least the 1920s in the artisan’s shop. Today, smaller complex designs, such as a logo or a decorative medallion, are also often precast, in whole or in part. Precast logos are more costly but provide greater flexibility for detailing.

Strip elements can also be formed by hand in the contractor’s shop and soldered to mesh for easy installation. On the 2018 Job of the Year, Texas Tech’s Amarillo Simulation Center, it was one of the artists, Brad Kaspari, who created the strip elements by hand in his studio.

Since waterjet technology reached the terrazzo industry in the 1990s, it’s been employed to produce design elements, whether strips or epoxy. Waterjet-cutting of strip designs is an option even for extensive patterning, as on the 2019 terrazzo Job of the Year: San Francisco’s Salesforce Transbay Transit Center.

When installers were asked to expedite the six-month installation schedule, they trimmed a month off while improving the quality of their installation by having the divider strips waterjet cut instead of shaping them by hand on-site. Panels as large as 11 by 17 feet were shipped and aligned on the construction site.

Stencils for design transfer

James Bateman, VP of the terrazzo division at Terrazzo & Marble Supply Company, is approaching 20 years in the industry. He reported that not much has changed in the industry during those years, other than stencil systems, which are typically used for strip layout. For a logo, unless it’s relatively simple, it’s generally more efficient to use waterjet, he said.

While stencils have been used over the past 10 to 15 years, Bateman revealed that their use has increased mainly over the last three to five years. Growing numbers of installers, who had been doing fine without them, are coming to discover the benefits.

“It’s pretty economical to get stencils and it saves a lot of labor,” he said.

Pittsburgh International Airport’s “Sky Beneath Our Feet” is the 2017 Job of the Year. The design process began with the artist’s drawings on paper, which were then traced into a CAD file and programmed into a waterjet. Approximately 70,000 square feet of templates were cut for the divider strip layout and then laid out along control lines in the terminal floor. The pattern was precisely reproduced and each section lined up to perfection through 60 distinct phases of the project.

“Stenciling is cost savings: purely time and labor,” Thompson said. “Especially for large jobs, reducing labor can have an enormous impact on the bottom line.”