terrazzo tree public artwork

in march this year deb and i put our hands up for a public art job. and we were lucky enough to get the gig. and so began our path towards learning about and installing a large terrazzo floor artwork in front of the adelaide city council building.

we contacted a local company monterrazzo and worked out a plan on how to make our design in terrazzo.

 

i posted previously about the process to get the design drawn up.  so it was an exciting day when we began laying the brass down on site. a base slab with the reinforcements had already been poured to the right level and allowed to set up for a week or so

we brought our pre bent and braised brass drawing to site on large mdf panels.

 

it was like a large puzzle to put together

 

after a couple hours we were making progress and setting the brass in place with nails and glue.

 

we previously did some colour tests and mixed different oxides and aggregates together to make the colours for our design. for this project we are using locally sourced stones in the terrazzo.

 

and then the 'boys' began the time consuming task of placing the terrazzo mixture in the areas of the design in between the brass strips.

 

this is the off white colour in the tree trunk section.

 

then once it is in place the 'boys' keep revisiting the surface, filling in all the gaps and taping the terrazzo to get the air out.

after that we wait for it to set

 

hope it doesnt rain and get ready to do it again tomorrow

so happy after that first colour was in, 

 

the next colour was a dark green, again with natural stone aggregates mixed in.

 

at the base with the 2 colours coming together.

a very time consuming but relatively straightforward process. we really enjoyed watching it be filled in.

this second colour took a few days to get down as it covered a large area of the design

 

and it started to rain, so we were delayed a bit even though we did all we could to try and make a dry space to work. 

terrazzo does not like the rain, cold or extreme hot temperatures, so that makes it hard to install outside in winter, but we managed

 

  

of course we had to put our signature in the work

the artwork is in place to commemorate the 175 years of the city council, and compliment the current council initiative to create green spaces in the city. 

our idea was a tree that was green, and had 175 branch ends, one for each year.

the third colour mix was a lighter green, to come in a meet the darker green.

again this colour took a few days to be set into place.

our team worked well and we made some great progress even despite it being the wettest June in a long time with records rain falls. not ideal conditions

one colour left to mix and install across the top of the design. at this point it all looks very flat and you cant see the aggregate yet.

we ground back a small area that had set up already to see what the finished product would look like

this is the sneak peak of what the finished surface will look like with the different mixes of stone aggregates and cement mix. we were so happy at this point. more about this project soon.