Terrazzo is a composite surfacing material made from chips of marble, quartz, granite, or recycled glass set into a binder of epoxy resin or cement, then ground and polished to a smooth finish. Architects use terrazzo for floors, stairs, walls, and countertops in airports, schools, hospitals, and homes where durability and pattern matter.

The material has quietly held its place in construction for centuries, and it keeps returning to favor as designers look for surfaces that last decades without losing their character. Understanding what terrazzo is, how it is built, and where it performs best helps you decide whether it fits a given project. This piece covers its composition, the two main systems, its long history, and the building types that rely on it most.

What is terrazzo made of?

At its core, terrazzo is two ingredients: aggregate and binder. The aggregate is the visible chip content, and it makes up the largest share of the mix. Marble was the original choice, but modern blends pull in quartz, granite, mother of pearl, mirror fragments, and post-consumer recycled glass. Designers select chip size and color to control the final look, from fine and uniform to bold and chunky.

The binder holds everything together and defines the system. Cement was the traditional matrix for hundreds of years. Since the 1970s, epoxy resin has taken over interior work because it allows thinner pours, brighter pigments, and faster curing. According to ArchDaily, the aggregate typically accounts for roughly 70 percent of a terrazzo mix, which is why the chips, not the binder, drive the visual result.

Metal divider strips, usually brass, zinc, or aluminum, are set into the surface to separate colors, control cracking, and form patterns or logos. After the mix cures, crews grind the surface flat, fill any small voids with matching grout, then polish it to the desired sheen and seal it. The result is a single continuous plane with no grout lines in the way that tile produces.

Epoxy terrazzo vs cement terrazzo

The choice of binder shapes almost every practical aspect of a terrazzo installation, from where you can use it to how thick the assembly sits. Epoxy systems dominate interior projects in the United States, while cement systems remain the option for exterior and heavy structural conditions.

Epoxy terrazzo pours thin, often a quarter inch to three eighths of an inch, and bonds to a prepared concrete slab. It cures fast enough to grind within a day under good conditions and accepts almost any pigment, which gives designers a wide color range. Cement terrazzo sits thicker, sometimes on a reinforced mud bed several inches deep, and handles freeze-thaw cycles outdoors that would damage an epoxy floor.

How the two systems compare

The table below lays out the practical differences architects weigh when specifying a system:

Feature	Epoxy Terrazzo	Cement Terrazzo
Typical thickness	1/4 in to 3/8 in	1/2 in topping up to 3 in bed
Best use	Interior floors and walls	Interior and exterior
Color range	Very wide, fully pigmented	More limited, earthier tones
Curing speed	Grind within about 24 hours	Several days before grinding
Weight on structure	Light	Heavy

According to TERRAZZCO, more than 90 percent of terrazzo installed in the United States today uses an epoxy matrix, and these floors can exceed 10,000 PSI in compressive strength. That combination of thin profile and high strength is why epoxy has become the default for commercial interiors.

A short history of terrazzo

The modern story begins in 16th century Venice, where mosaic workers in the Friuli region looked for a use for the marble offcuts left over from larger jobs. They pressed those chips into a clay or lime base to build inexpensive terraces around their living quarters, which is where the name comes from. The Italian word terrazzo means terrace.

Early crews finished these floors by hand, rubbing them with stone and later with a heavy long-handled grinding tool called a galera. They even discovered that a coating of goat milk brought out the color and sheen of the marble, an early form of sealer. The technique traveled with Italian craftsmen and reached the United States in the late 1890s.

Two inventions pushed terrazzo into the mainstream during the 1920s. The brass divider strip, patented in 1924, solved the cracking problem that had limited large installations. Around the same time, the electric grinding machine replaced slow hand finishing and made the material affordable for big public buildings. By the time epoxy binders arrived in the 1970s, terrazzo had a second life in lightweight interior work.

Where is terrazzo used?

Terrazzo earns its place in spaces that take heavy foot traffic and need to look intact for decades. The continuous surface has no grout joints to trap dirt, which makes it a practical choice anywhere hygiene and cleaning matter as much as appearance.

Public and commercial buildings

Airports rely on terrazzo for concourses because it survives thousands of rolling suitcases a day and polishes back to new with routine maintenance. Schools, universities, hospitals, museums, courthouses, and transit stations use it for the same reasons. The material also lets designers set school logos, donor names, or wayfinding patterns directly into the floor using divider strips.

Homes and interiors

Residential interest has grown as thinner epoxy systems and precast terrazzo tiles made the material easier to install in houses. Designers now use it for kitchen countertops, bathroom floors, shower walls, and feature stairs. Precast units extend the look to vanity tops, windowsills, and furniture, so a single material can carry a design theme across a room.

Exterior and structural settings

Cement terrazzo still handles outdoor and high-load conditions where epoxy cannot go. Plazas, building entries, and monumental structures use it for weather resistance. The Hoover Dam and the Gamla stan metro station in Stockholm both feature terrazzo in demanding public settings, proof that the cement system holds up far beyond typical interior duty.

Why architects keep specifying terrazzo

The appeal comes down to a rare mix of longevity, design freedom, and low lifecycle cost. A well-installed floor can outlast the building around it, and refinishing restores the surface rather than requiring replacement. Few finishes offer that kind of return over a 40 or 50 year horizon.

Design control is the second draw. Because you choose the aggregate and pigment the binder, terrazzo can read as quiet and monolithic or graphic and playful. The same material that suits a calm museum lobby can carry a bright pattern in a children's hospital. For more on how flooring choices fit broader sustainability goals, see this guide to eco-friendly flooring materials and sustainable techniques, which covers how recycled content fits into terrazzo and other surfaces.

Maintenance keeps the long-term math attractive. Routine cleaning and periodic polishing are usually enough, and there is no grout to scrub or seal between tiles. For specifiers comparing surfaces, that low upkeep often offsets the higher installation cost that terrazzo carries up front.

To see how contemporary firms detail and install the material, ArchDaily's overview of terrazzo production and samples walks through real project applications, and the National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association publishes installation standards and a full history of the trade. For the material's broader background, the terrazzo entry on Wikipedia collects its global use and notable installations, while TERRAZZCO's material guide details the technical differences between epoxy and cement systems.

Bottom Line: Terrazzo is a chip-and-binder composite that has stayed relevant for centuries because it lasts, resists wear, and gives designers near total control over color and pattern. Whether you reach for epoxy indoors or cement outdoors, it remains one of the few surfaces that can serve an airport concourse and a private bathroom with equal credibility.