Concrete Floors Deliver the 'Wow' Factor

concrete floors

Flooring with a polished concrete overlay adds the “wow” factor to the new Environmental Science Building on the campus of Skyline College in San Bruno, CA.

In San Bruno, CA, Skyline College recently unveiled the newest addition to its campus—the 21,000-square-foot, $40.7-million, multipurpose Environmental Science Building. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this building houses laboratory classrooms, lecture halls, academic offices, a catering kitchen, and a gallery that optimizes its dazzling ocean views. Though the gallery floors aren’t the primary spectacle in this space, they offer their own “wow” factor.

“Usually there’s not a lot of decorative flooring thrown into county and state campuses,” says Bonnie Boden, senior project manager with flooring contractor Floor Seal Technology. “However, this project is very exclusive, very different, very private. It looks over the Pacific Ocean, it sits on the back side of the college, and their intent is to sell it as a luxury, exclusive event center. We are in the Bay Area. We have a lot of high-tech companies and private events that will utilize this space.”

For a floor befitting this use, terrazzo was originally proposed, as per the vision of Ron Galatolo, chancellor of Skyline College and the San Mateo County Community College District to which it belongs.

“Originally this was supposed to be terrazzo, but Ron didn’t like the way that terrazzo tends to be wavy, and if it does scratch, it turns white,” Boden says. “He had the idea of a black overlay colored concrete floor.”

His idea led Boden’s team to a new product from PROSOCO called Integral Color for Overlays, a liquid concentrated pigment that colors cement mixtures in overlay applications on concrete floors. There was more than one advantage to the flooring option of a polished concrete overlay, a self-leveling floor topping experiencing a recent surge in popularity.

“One of the highlights of doing an overlay cementitious floor versus terrazzo is the cost difference,” Boden says. “The cost could be substantially less, if not twice as less than a typical terrazzo floor. When you do add a little more decorative aggregate, the (cost per) square foot does go up a little bit, but you’re still talking about at least $20 a square foot less than the terrazzo.”

As it turned out, the overlay option would deliver Galatolo’s desired aesthetic effect at a lower cost than terrazzo.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management October 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • University of Connecticut Upgrades Basketball Facility’s AV Systems

    The University of Connecticut recently partnered with Metinteractive to upgrade the AV systems of the Gampel Pavilion basketball facility on its campus in Mansfield, Conn., according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Adds ALPR Technology to Parking Solutions

    Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, recently integrated automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology into its parking services and enforcement strategies, according to a news release. The university’s Transportation Services division deployed Genetec AutoVu ALPR to manage the campus’ 36,000+ parking spaces.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2025 New Product Awards

    Spaces4Learning is now accepting entries for the 2025 New Product Awards! The program’s goal is to honor the outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products and services are particularly noteworthy in helping to improve K–12 and Higher Education learning environments.

  • Illinois Elementary School Breaks Ground on Campus Expansion

    Heather Hill Elementary School, part of Flossmoor School District 161 in Palatine, Ill., recently broke ground on a new addition to the school focused on student support and security, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers for the expansion as part of a longer-term facility planning and modernization initiative.

Digital Edition