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.

terrazzo and excuses

ok - i know it has been a while. life just got a bit too busy. too much happening. but i have still been documenting it, just not having any time to post things here. I will attempt to catch up over the next couple weeks. that was the excuse.

first to what i am doing now. here is the terrazzo.

 deb and i were successful in securing a public art job for the city council. we designed a tree image that will be made from brass lines set in terrazzo. this will be set along the foot path in front of the city council building.

we started by creating a template that is to scale for us to draw the pattern out on

 

we drew the tree pattern onto the template

then we used this to bend and lay out the brass strips to make up the drawing.

as we often do when working on a public art project, we have partnered up with a local fabricator who works with concrete and terrazzo all the time. he is helping us source materials, create the concrete colours and mixes and install the terrazzo.

in the meantime we have been busy writing safe work method statements, getting work permits, and planning and coordinating all the background prep stuff to get this job started. The base concrete slab was poured last week. Now we just need a few sunny days in a row so we can begin to layout the brass pattern and then start the coloured aggregates. 

watch this space for more updates soon.

concrete colour samples

deb and i have been installing the concrete drawings we did. i have some photos of the process but i cant show them yet. i will eventually. 

but as you can see from the photo above we are not done yet. the small holes are from the lifters that we used to lift and crane the large sections of the concrete drawing into place. now we have the tricky task of patching these holes and matching the colour.

since we are new to this process we have decided to do a series of colour tests. each bucket has a different mix of concrete path mix, and oxide. they all look grey until you add the water.

once you mix in the water the oxide takes over and colours the concrete mix. we have done various mixes for each of the 4 colours we are trying to match. above are the calipso green samples

 

these are the white colour samples

  

and the black colour samples

it was very satisfying seeing them all lined up and measuring out the oxides to exacting quantities. we need to let the samples dry for about 10 days and then we will take them to the install site and see which one is our best choice. then we can begin the final patching process.

concrete drawing 3 - flip and cut

this is the last large concrete drawing, set and ready to flip. john attaches the lifters on the concrete.

it looks like a big zipper, and it locks in to the concrete pin that was cast in place.

 

then the chain hoists are attached to the lifters

 

and then with a quick pull up the concrete panel lifted from the base.

 

then the tricky move of flipping the large 2.4 x 3 m panel. 

the unit is lifted with 4 lifters in place

 

this needed to happen outside for more room.

up

  

up

vertical

 

and back

 

down

 

down

 

and then to work removing the metal frame and revealing the lifters on the top surface.

 

then using slings we moved it to the saw

 

once on the saw table it was a simple process.

 

lining up cutting marks and then letting the saw do the work

 

there were 6 cuts all together, and this took about an hour to cut

 

all the cutting done then each piece needs to be moved to pallets

 

3 fancy new lifters for each tile allows them to be moved easily to the pallets

 

now some final finishing, hand rubbing the surface back to bring out the colour and finish the work off

 

the hardest part is done now, but there is still a lot of work ahead to get this artwork installed.