Quotidian and Extraordinary

Museum 207, located on Dihua Street in Taipei’s Da­dao­cheng neighborhood, is a beautiful four-story residence built in 1962. Its glorious original aesthetic remains intact. The curved facade is covered in eye-­catching orange and red ceramic tiles. Large expanses of windows offer views onto the busy streets. The terrazzo floors found throughout the building are even more arresting. Visitors are invariably captivated by the decorative patterns featuring bees and grapes, as well as ginseng, an image befitting the herbal apothecary originally located on the building’s first floor.

Chen Bingyuan has devoted himself to studying and mastering terrazzo making techniques.

Collective memories

Terrazzo is a construction material, but for Taiwanese it is also a cultural symbol rooted deep in people’s hearts. It evokes warm feelings in many. “Walking on terrazzo floors takes people back to their childhoods,” says Chen Bingyuan, owner of the stone dealer Zhengfenghang. “It’s like returning to the familiar embrace of your mother.”

Holding a soft spot for terrazzo, he has made an effort to study it. “Yet the older generation in the building trade say that terrazzo is something we used to like but it fell from favor. So why, they ask, does it still capture your fancy?”

About 40 years ago Chen Bingyuan’s father, who had been working in Yilan’s Nan’ao, foresaw bright prospects for dealing in stone materials for the construction industry, so he resigned from his job and moved to Kaohsiung to open Zhengfanghang.

Taiwan’s economy was booming, and builders were throwing up new homes everywhere. Wood and tile floors had yet to come into fashion, and stone material was dominant, whether in the form of pebble-dash walls on the exterior of buildings or terrazzo floors inside. “Using one building material, you could finish the whole house,” says Chen.

As the second-generation owner of the firm, he grew up among the gravel heaps. “Those rocks helped raise me, so I want to test the limits of their applications,” he says with passion. Consequently, after returning home over a decade ago to take over the family business, he took interior design classes and began taking on terrazzo floor laying projects. He admits that terrazzo has fallen from fashion and that there is a shortage of skilled workers to install it. Nevertheless, helping his clients execute their wild ideas gives him a great sense of satisfaction.

One-of-a-kind images in terrazzo reflect the unique background and character of a building’s owner.

Laying terrazzo floors is dusty, time-consuming work, so few people install them these days.

A man-made substitute for stone

Terrazzo was not invented in Taiwan. According to historical records, it originated in Venice and was introduced into Taiwan during the Japanese era, although exactly when is uncertain. Yeh Jun-lin, an assistant professor of architecture at Chung Yuan Christian University, explains that terrazzo is a type of manufactured stone. “Taiwan is not a big producer of building stone. Natural stone is expensive, as are related labor and transport costs. Terrazzo likewise uses natural materials, but a lot of cement mortar is added in, thus reducing the amount of stone material. But from a distance, it looks much like stone.”

From a user’s perspective, terrazzo is easy to clean and can be used virtually forever. Even if it chips or cracks, it can typically be spot-repaired. When it gets old, it can be reground and repolished, thus further extending its life. All in all, it is a very durable material. Furthermore, terrazzo is cool to the touch and well suited to the heat of Taiwan. And it has the advantages of neither absorbing water nor being susceptible to condensation in humid weather. For these many reasons, the material became very popular.

One can find terrazzo in many old buildings dating from the Japanese era, such as the Presidential Office Building, the Control Yuan Building and Hsinchu City Hall. The use of terrazzo was at its peak from the 1950s to the 1980s. One can find it used for floors, wall bases, and the lower portions of walls in many residences, temples, schools and government buildings dating from that era. 

Modern Taiwanese are most familiar with black, gray and white terrazzo mixes, color schemes suited to stone materials sourced in Taiwan. The black components are slate from either Yilan’s Wushi Harbor or Pingtung’s Sandimen. It is the same stone that some indigenous Taiwanese use in their slab houses. Additionally, there is black marble quarried in Yilan, Hualien or Taitung. The gray and white stones are all marble, likewise originating from Eastern Taiwan.

Chen Bingyuan demonstrates how terrazzo is made: Cement and stone are mixed in a 1:2 ratio. The mixture is then laid and left to dry before grinding. After polishing, it acquires a shiny luster.

Magnificent temple art

Making terrazzo is not complicated. Workers mix gravel and cement mortar in prescribed proportions, apply the mixture to the floor or walls and then wait for it to dry before machine grinding the surface several times, progressing from coarse to fine. Then spot finishing is done where needed, and finally the terrazzo is polished and wax is applied.

Traditional temples may well be the easiest places in Taiwan to find outstanding artistic terrazzo. Examples include the floors, walls and altars of the Bao’an Temple at Keliao in Tainan’s Beimen District; the floors, walls and pillars in the historic Daxian Temple in Tainan’s Baihe District; and the dragon pillars in Chiayi City’s Shuangzhong Temple. Bearing witness to the will of believers in the religious cultures of Buddhism and Taoism, these works took years to ­finish. Apart from the often-­seen geometric patterns, there are also complicated images of flowers, birds and Buddhist iconography. Workers were able to shape the terrazzo by molding and grinding the material when it was half dry. The rounded surfaces and precise lines are particularly ingenious.

courtesy of Chen Bingyuan

New directions

These days few people choose terrazzo floors for their homes. After all, terrazzo floors require two to three weeks to install. In that respect they cannot compete with ceramic tiles, which can be installed in three days. Today, when time equals money, durable terrazzo suggests the slower pace of life of years gone by.

Yet terrazzo won’t completely disappear. Compared with tile and wood floors, it is easier to clean and disinfect and hence is widely used in food processing and freezing plants, which put a premium on hygiene.

Meanwhile, installation techniques are evolving, with precast terrazzo tiles gaining in popularity. These offer a solution to the lengthy time needed to lay terrazzo on site. With shells, colorful glass and even imported stone being used in place of traditional Taiwan-sourced stone chips, and with epoxy resin being used instead of cement as a binder, contemporary terrazzo is gaining in variety and richness. As Chen Bingyuan says, “Has this construction technique reached the end of its days? I think not.”

From old floors in traditional residences, to decorative elements in temples, to widespread use in commercial spaces, terrazzo can be found all around us in our daily lives.(courtesy of Chen Bingyuan)

Terrazzo Through Different Eras

Haigang Harbor Building

Formerly housing the Keelung Harbor Marine Administration Bureau, it is a building of historical significance in the city of Keelung. The terrazzo floor at the base of its Western-style round pillars is split into geometric shapes by brass strips. Installed before power grinders, the terrazzo here was laid by hand and ground with grindstones. Hence, its stones are small.

Daxian Temple, Baihe

The temple’s Three Treasures Hall and Guanyin Hall, which date from the 1960s, as well as the restored Daxiong Hall, all have wonderfully crafted terrazzo walls, pillars, and floors. The designs feature geometric patterns, plants and animals, as well as images depicting stories about the Sakyamuni Buddha.courtesy of Yeh Jun-lin

Shuangzhong Temple, Chiayi

Ornately carved stone dragon pillars are found in many of Taiwan’s temples, but the dragon pillars here demonstrate a rare and masterful terrazzo technique. The finely crafted images of the Eight Immortals and the river dragon Panlong are breathtaking. (courtesy of Yeh Jun-lin)

Shuangzhong Temple, Chiayi

Ornately carved stone dragon pillars are found in many of Taiwan’s temples, but the dragon pillars here demonstrate a rare and masterful terrazzo technique. The finely crafted images of the Eight Immortals and the river dragon Panlong are breathtaking.(courtesy of Yeh Jun-lin)

Large Planter

Chen’s team of workers created this terrazzo planter on the grounds of a high rise. Seen from a distance, the seamless glossy surface makes it look as if it were carved from a single block of stone. But it cost much less than stone would have.

Residence

Chen Bingyuan designed this image of a Brazilian iris for a residence in Kaohsiung, taking inspiration from garden plants. The colorful petals were made from glass beads. Rather than being shaped by hand, the dividers were cut from a sheet of brass with a laser to vary the thickness.

(courtesy of Chen Bingyuan)

Commercial spaces

In commercial spaces, precast terrazzo tiles are often used to save on labor costs. The terrazzo shown here is made with epoxy resin as a bonding agent, creating a light and fashionably contemporary effect.