Concrete and Clay
Hello again! It’s time for us to talk about one of my absolute favorite materials, and I realize I may say that about most of our materials chats. And that’s probably because I’m obsessed with building materials in general, but I really think this category is super high up on the list and my goal today is convert you to being on Team Concrete and especially on Team Terrazzo. These two materials are cousins and can be used in similar ways with slightly different looks, but both will make your space look incredibly modern and gorgeous
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When I was a wee design student at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, we had a very new, very modern building that held all us design students. All of our classes were in this building. There’s a lot to be said about that building in particular, for another time, but because I was in the building 80% of those five years that I was in college, I didn’t look too much at the exterior of the building. Instead, I spent my time looking across the way, out the window to the one of the world’s largest continuous-pour concrete structures, Crosley Tower. Crosley is miniature wonder of the world. Built in 1969 to house UC’s Chemistry Department labs, the building is very light on windows -meaing there aren’t many of them, and there was a rumor it didn’t have any bathrooms. People hate this thing. I get annoyed when I hear folks rally against modernism in general but Crosley Tower is specific pain point for me. This building is a marvel of brutalist architecture, and if you aren’t familiar with that term, pop me a note on Instagram and let me know, maybe I’ll do an entire episode on the history of brutalism. But the short version is it involved a lot of concrete and it’s exceptionally sculptural and austere. Crosley Tower does not look like anything else on UC’s campus, or really anything else in the city, and for this reason it’s exceptionally eye-catching. It’s a true spectacle. There have been discussions about removing the tower since before I even matriculated, but now it seems the date is set for 2025. It’s often been mentioned that Crosley won’t come down easily as it is one single giant piece of concrete, it won’t exactly break apartment easily and risks toppling over to one side or the other. If you like concrete, this building is something to behold. The fact that an entire building’s cladding could be constructed of what’s essentially one big mold and filled with concrete it mind boggling. And now it stands with all the dignity of the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey. It will be a sad day when this monument is removed.
But given that not everyone has the chops to appreciate this kind of architecture, today we are going to have a lesson in concrete so that you can learn how to incorporate it into your home in a way that feels chic, warm, and modern.
Concrete has been in used for constructing homes, temples, and all kinds of gathering spaces since the Ancient Mayans. This material is often confused with one of its ingredients - cement. Concrete is in fact a mixture of cement, aggregate (aka rocks), various additives like water, and sometimes additional structural steel members referred to as rebar. There are many types of concrete depending on the type of aggregate and the exact formulation of the cement.
Concrete’s cousin, terrazzo, by description is almost identical, only that the care given to the aesthetic appeal of the aggregate is high, because after the terrazzo has fully hardened or cured, it is ground down to reveal the rocky shapes within. This creates a pattern that looks like confetti was thrown around, giving a super playful - joy-filled look.
Both concrete and terrazzo are commonly used as a floor material, particularly in commercial spaces such as retail stores, hospitals, banks, restaurants, and hotel lobbies. But you will also see these materials used as wall finishes, countertops, backsplashes, and even furniture like tables and chair bases.
And yes, you can use this as a flooring in ANY room in the house - although you may be most drawn to using it in the kitchen and bathroom. But one of the great things about using concrete flooring is you can have a single continuous floor material that runs through every room. This helps create a more modern feeling in any space.
As a flooring, concrete is an incredible problem solver. It’s exceptionally durable, easy to clean, and it can be stained and sealed in a wide variety of colors and finishes. You can have very large seamless sections of poured concrete flooring, or you can install smaller tiles. The benefit of concrete tiles is that they provide a little more grip and slip resistivity, have a short installation time typically, and provide a smaller scale visually than a continuous poured floor..Maintenance is super easy, mop as needed and reseal about every year. That’s it. You won’t see scratches, stains, chips, or dents, but what you will see is a monolithic, smooth, modern flooring that screams how cool you are to everyone who visits your home. This type of flooring is basically a tank when it comes to durability - it’s water and mold resistant, which is why it’s so often used in basements. But if you want to use it in your home and aren’t feeling the grayish tones of natural concrete, keep in mind this product can be stained any color of the rainbow. You can even include divider strips in your concrete floor to change the color and texture and create a completely custom pattern.
The other big factor when customizing concrete is the texture. Concrete can be high shine, natural, or a more matte finish, and everywhere in between. But it can also have the texture of formwork imprinted on it. Formwork is the mold that is built for the concrete to be poured into, and there are many different shapes and sizes of formwork, and it can be made from a range of materials depending on how visible or not visible the design needs to be. But one option that I think is completely magical is wood boards. Formwork can be set up in a very specific way, so that the boards will leave their impression behind as the concrete cures. Remove the formwork when everything is completely dry, and you’re left with a stamp of wood texture in the concrete. There’s actually a really great blog post from Life of an Architect that details the process of board formwork and it’s pretty freaking cool. So why would you do this rather than just using wood boards as you finished surface? Maintenance, durability, longevity, and also - it just looks more unexpected. There’s a souvenir left behind of the actual construction process, and it just happens to be beautiful.
There are things to keep in mind with concrete floors, of course. Many of them stemming from its hardness. Concrete is both visually and physically hard and cold. This can create a sterile feeling, which is what concrete, left uncustomized, is known for. You can mitigate this, not just be playing with color and texture, but also by making sure your furniture and accessory choices are warm, cozy, and textural. Contrast is key here, don’t be afraid to throw down a beautiful area rug with lots of texture like sisal, or invest in a plush sofa. These items will play against the super smooth look of the concrete and make it feel less industrial. These items will also help with the second challenge, which is acoustics. Having super hard flooring like concrete can create an echo, so consider this when selecting the other materials in the room and make a point to provide lots of soft surfaces, even on the ceilings and walls. Wood slat ceilings with concrete floors can be a playful twist on a more expected hardwood floor, literally turning it on its head.
One important thing that can’t go without saying is that concrete is not inherently sustainable or green. The raw materials that need to be mined to create cement are laborious and hard on the earth. It takes a ton of water to create, and the demand for concrete is incredibly high. It can be very sustainable to use a concrete sub flooring if it’s already in your home, rather than laying another materials on top of it. If you happen to have an existing concrete subfloor, whether it’s your basement, garage, or your main floor, you can add what’s referred to as a topping to it to bring color, sheen, water proofing, and texture. If not, there are some concrete tile options that are either recycled or made from sustainable mining practices, but these are not widely available. Recycled concrete slabs have been given the name Urbanite, and are often used for backyard retaining walls and walkway or patio pavers.
All of these concepts apply to the lovely terrazzo, although the visual appearance of this material is more warm and approachable than concrete, so it leaves less to be added in order to humanize it. You may end up forgoing area rugs all together because the terrazzo itself is THAT gorgeous, so make sure to add softer vertical elements like a full wall of drapery that stretches all the way from the floor to the ceiling.
One of the best aspects of terrazzo is its’ ability to be customized. The most common example of this is the flooring in airports - many terminals use large scale swirling organic terrazzo patterns to break up the miles of corridor space between security and your gate. But you can use these ideas to create a look that is unique to you for your space. Terrazzo comes in two main varieties - the base can be made with cement or with epoxy. Cementitious terrazzo is best for outdoor use, due its ability to hold up to the elements. The most famous example of outdoor terrazzo is the Hollywood Walk of Frame. All those stars with celebrities names on them? That’s cementitious terrazzo! But for interiors, epoxy terrazzo has the most advantages. It’s lighter weight, has faster cure time, and is available in more colors than cementitious terrazzo. It’s also easy to get a super glossy finish with an epoxy terrazzo and it does not need to be resealed as often a cement product. Terrazzo is one of those materials that will last a lifetime. It’s used so often in commercial projects because of it’s extremely heavy duty wearability. But, if you have a forever home, and you want great protection for pets, guests, kids, even flooding - give terrazzo a chance. There is definitely an initial upfront investment cost for terrazzo, and if this doesn’t work for you budget, you can consider terrazzo tiles.
Which ever method you choose, you get to make a series of design choices that will make the terrazzo look like nothing else on the planet. The resin binder, which takes up about 50-60% of the visual space of the terrazzo, can be any color. While the majority of terrazzos have white, off-white, or black as the base - other common colors include mustard yellow, lavender, robins egg blue, and sage green. Then the party starts. All that aggregate I’ve been mentioning that will be visible, gets to be curated by you - and it isn’t just rocks. Recycled colorful glass, metal fragments, seashells, and gorgeous marbles and granites all come out to play in a harmonious galaxy. Terrazzo reminds me of ice cream that’s loaded with candy chunks and sprinkles, I literally get hungry when I look at it. So color can be achieved via two delivery methods - through the resin,(which we are now calling ice cream) and through the aggregate (which we are now calling aggregate sprinkles, because it’s so much more fun). You can choose colorful ice cream with neutral sprinkles, neutral ice cream with colorful sprinkles, or have both be a source of color. From there you can imagine, the color combinations become endless, just like going to 31 flavors.
The other important variable is the size of the sprinkles. Traditionally, these pieces are very much pebble sized, but the more modern terrazzo I’m seeing has been getting chunkier. It’s not uncommon to see a piece the size of a fist or even what looks like a slice of a small boulder. As always - keep the scale of your room in mind. A small powder room will easily get overwhelmed by a giant sprinkles terrazzo, but it can really shine in an open plan kitchen/dining/ living room combination.
This material may seem like a major commitment when used as flooring, as so one of the trends that’s been on every DIY YouTube channel for the past three years is creating faux finishes on furniture to look like terrazzo. While I can’t walk you down the road of actually making terrazzo or approximating it, I can recommend looking for pieces such as coffee and side tables with gorgeous terrazzo tops. These are very popular in furniture stores right now, but they are also available in vintage and resale shops.
So now that you’re all jazzed up about concrete and terrazzo, you might be wondering who makes this stuff, where can I find it. Fear not because I have a list of lovely places to find both materials, even if you just want to browse their websites for eye candy. And the first one is going to be a little surprising. So paint giant Sherwin Williams actually has an entire industrial flooring division and this includes terrazzo. Now don’t expect to walk into a Sherwin Williams paint store and have them know all about flooring - they’re separate divisions of a very large corporation. What I would recommend is reaching out to a contact on the sherwin Williams’ industrial website, which I will link below and let them know about your project. Or better yet, tell your contractor to call them.
If you want some more aspirational eye candy - check out the absolutely stunning California based Concrete Collaborative and their retail sister shop Concrete Love which features jewelry, candle holders, and easy to purchase terrazzo table tops. One of the things that I love about Concrete Collaborative is that they have so many different products for using both concrete and terrazzo in your space, rather than committing to pouring it on your floors, which is a big undertaking! They have tons of concrete tiles to chose from, which allows you to consider wrapping the floor material up a wall or using it along a backsplash. There is also London based company Dzek, which is my favorite current examples of very chunky aggregate terrazzo. I honestly had not seen aggregate this large before, and while their product line is fairly small, it’s such a strong point of view. There’s that boutique feeling, and they have Greenguard Certification which is fantastic. And lastly, check out artist Felix Muhrhofer - I found him through his work with Kelly Wearstler and he is a true terrazzo artist, who focuses on small scale pieces that are meticulously planned.
Thank you so much for joining me today, as always a full transcript of this and our most recent episodes is available at www.softlandindstudio.com/podcast. If you’re enjoying this podcast please consider giving it a five star review on Apple Podcasts, and sharing it with a friend. I hope you have a great one and I will talk to you in the next episode.
https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/board-formed-concrete/
https://www.concrete-collaborative.com/contactus
https://www.felixmuhrhofer.com/about
