From a pink-hued Ottolenghi restaurant in London to a muted pizzeria in Beijing, our latest lookbook rounds up 10 eateries from around the world that feature terrazzo elements.
Terrazzo is a flooring material that consists of uneven pieces of marble or granite set in concrete, which is then polished to give it a smooth finish.
Architects and interior designers often use the sturdy material in their projects to create practical floors, but also to give walls or other surfaces a speckled and decorative appearance.
We have collected 10 eateries that use terrazzo, such as on the tabletops of a fish and chip shop in Australia and to make up the floors of a Chinese teahouse.
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing steely kitchens, green bedrooms and gardens with swimming pools.
Photo is by Niveditaa Gupta
Rosie and Tillie, India, by Renesa
Local architecture studio Renesa set terracotta tiles against smooth terrazzo surfaces at Rosie and Tillie, an all-day cafe in New Delhi.
Squat curved booths create sculptural seating throughout the eatery, which is located within a former Indian restaurant at a shopping mall in the Indian capital’s Saket neighbourhood.
Find out more about Rosie and Tillie ›
Photo is by David Sievers
Smallfry Seafood, Australia, by Sans-Arc Studio
Smallfry Seafood is a chip shop in Adelaide, Australia, that takes cues from the aesthetics of Japanese seafood markets.
Sans-Arc Studio created a communal bar and curved tables from narrow slabs of light blue terrazzo. For the rest of the interiors, the studio chose mottled grey travertine and stained wood accents that are illuminated by globular pendant lights.
Find out more about Smallfry Seafood ›
Photo is by Oculis Project
Drop Coffee, UAE, by Roar Studio
A decorative terrazzo floor mirrors a mural created from broken ceramic tiles at this Dubai cafe that was designed by Roar Studio at the city’s Dar Al Wasl Mall.
Drop Coffee has a colour palette of greys and whites, chosen to maintain focus on the cafe’s mix of industrial materials such as stainless steel and concrete.
“We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel by using broken tiles – our idea was to form a counterpoint to the terrazzo effect porcelain flooring as though the chips of the broken tiles were used in the flooring,” Roar Studio founder Pallavi Dean told Dezeen.
Find out more about Drop Coffee ›
Photo is by Jovian Lim
Odette, Singapore, by Universal Design Studio
Mosaic-like terrazzo floors formed from pale pink and white take centre stage at Odette, a restaurant in Singapore created by British practice Universal Design Studio.
A range of soft and smooth materials make up the interiors, from plush grey velvet benches and chairs to sleek nickel fixtures and statement planters.
Find out more about Odette ›
Photo is courtesy of Alex Meitlis
Ottolenghi Chelsea, UK, by Alex Meitlis
London deli and restaurant chain Ottolenghi has opened a branch in Chelsea that features interior styling by designer Alex Meitlis, who created exposed plaster walls interspersed with pink terrazzo tiles.
The eatery includes slinky banquettes in red upholstery and low-slung rattan chairs, which are arranged around sculptural white tables.
Find out more about Ottolenghi Chelsea ›
Photo is by Tom Blachford
Penta, Australia, by Ritz&Ghougassian
Terrazzo was used to create subtle geometric seating at Penta, a minimal cafe in Melbourne designed by local architecture studio Ritz&Ghougassian.
Jet black cushions and chairs contrast the grey speckled benches, while delicate native ferns add a touch of greenery to the otherwise monochrome interiors.
Find out more about Penta ›
Photo is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Lievito Gourmet Pizza, China, by MDDM Studio
Another eatery with a muted atmosphere, Lievito Gourmet Pizza by MDDM Studio features blocky custom-made tables and a central bar formed from powdery grey terrazzo.
The Beijing restaurant was designed with this layout in order to incorporate both open and more intimate dining spaces, which are arranged across three subtle levels.
Find out more about Lievito Gourmet Pizza ›
Photo is by Dirk Weiblen
Tingtai Teahouse, China, by Linehouse
Situated inside an old factory space in Shanghai, Tingtai Teahouse is characterised by its intimate seating areas contained in elevated boxes positioned above a multi-level landscape of green terrazzo.
“We paired smoked oak and brushed darkened stainless steel with the green terrazzo to bring warmth into the space,” explained Linehouse founder Alex Mok.
Find out more about Tingtai Teahouse ›
Photo is by Samara Vise
B-Natural Kitchen, USA, by Atelier Cho Thompson
A rounded bar and service counter with a multi-coloured terrazzo top and tamboured wood siding features in B-Natural Kitchen, a pastel-hued restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut.
Atelier Cho Thompson juxtaposed soft and bold finishes for the interiors, which include plant-themed graphic wallpaper that nods to the eatery’s menu of fresh ingredients.
Find out more about project B-Natural Kitchen ›
Photo is by Tom Blachford
Middle South East, Australia, by Biasol
Design studio Biasol took cues from Middle Eastern architecture for this Melbourne restaurant that juxtaposes deep blue and terracotta tones.
A tiled water station with terrazzo shelving features in the centre of the room, while clusters of dining tables and a bar are topped with the same speckled material.
Find out more about Middle South East ›
This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing white bathrooms, light-filled extensions and homes with statement windows.
Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of March 11th, 2022. Submit a rendering.
Renderings are more than simple computer-generated images; they tell a story and help us envision how a space feels, is used and interacts within the surrounding environment. Architizer’s annual Rendering Competition the inspiring and striking architectural ideas made possible by architectural visualization. This rendering challenge provides designers with an opportunity to showcase their individual talents and distinctive imaginations.
At its best, ArchViz allows designers to explore the expansive potentiality of what architecture can be through surreal imageries that engage with the absurd, the paradoxical, and escapism. Each of the eight renderings offers a dreamlike vision. Whether it be an idyllic setting, a fascinating paradox, or a dream-like scene, each rendering highlights the fantastical possibilities of bold utopic environments and pushes the boundaries of what an architectural rendering can be — a chance to escape reality.
Floating Vestiges by Timlok Li
Timlok Li’s rendering takes the viewer off-ground and into the sky. His rendering challenges the notion of architecture as permanent and site-specific, encouraging us to engage in the idea of impermanence. Floating Vestiges is hard to categorize as it flees from a defined architectural style. Instead, it embraces various styles and practices from different eras and periods. From American roadside architecture to imperial China, this floating structure is an amalgamation of historical periods and thus creates an inviting space for all walks of life.
The House of the Rising Sun by Bogdan Begmat
Bogdan Begmat’s paradoxical rendering is seemingly warm as it is brutalist. Made of poured concrete, this monolithic design boasts a warm brutalist aesthetic with a reflective façade. The rounded structure is at once muted through its monochrome appearance and, yet, defiant as it stands tall within the skyline. The building reflects onto the water surface below in what amounts to an almost subliminal effect. The juxtaposition of harsh and warm effects speaks to a surrealist aesthetic. Still, with the help of the surrounding peaceful landscape, a warm and inviting atmosphere is imagined.
Joint Structures by Nash Hurley, Jean-Pierre Monclin and Sonja Guth
A collaborative effort by three architects produces a rendering that responds to society’s ever-changing work culture. Remote work currently dominates over the traditional office space, and this change has required designers to pivot and evolve their practices. This rendered design concept imagines a healthy, functional, and environmentally-conscious workspace. It consists of a skyscraper made of a cluster of separate volumes, all of which are attached in a motif that creates a tree-like design. The workspaces within the structure offer ample daylight and access to fresh air, which encourages good work habits and good health. Moreover, the separated volumes are ideal for small workgroups while equally remaining connected to the others and thus creating a sense of communal belonging.
The Oasis by Nuno Salgueiro
Nuno Salgueiro’s rendering features a pyramid within the middle of a desert and reveals a surreal and oxymoronic design. It employs the traditional tomb structure — a space once used to commemorate the dead — but instead designs an environment for the living. The Oasis is a structure that provides shelter, rest, and a chance to appreciate the surrounding desert topography. The interior is a light spectacle, a space where visitors can appreciate the radiating sunlight that shines through a series of intricately-cut openings. The focal point is the grand staircase, which leads guests to the top of the pyramid and where they can contemplate the surrounding desert landscape.
ISAURA, A city that moves entirely upward by Maria Karim
Maria Karim’s city design takes inspiration from the works of Italian writer Italo Calvino. His imaginative writing and description of cities influenced Karim to design ISAURA, a city that is oriented upwards. Karim’s city design is built above a subterranean like — just as Calvino describes it to be. The lake provides residents with fresh drinking water and also houses many of the city’s gods. This unconventional city organization speaks to Calvino’s vivid imagination and excites our surreal senses.
The Crevasse by Yeong Joon Ko
Yeong Joon Ko’s light-filled gallery was intended for Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. The space is cubic, boxy and exudes a tranquil morning atmosphere. A series of box-shape volumes were assembled in such a way that creates an arched path that leads visitors to a public space below. A sequence of crevasses and cut-outs connect the space with the outdoors and allows streams of sunshine to brighten the interior space. The rectangular shapes work together with the soft beams of lights to create a calm and warm gallery space.
Enter the Garden by Zana Bamarni
Zana Bamarni’s rendering invites the viewer to a light-filled haven. Enter the Garden is designed to be a tranquil space where for those in need to escape their chaotic and often frustrating work lives. The structure consists of a rounded archway that is deeply ornamented and stands with grandeur. Shining through the archway is a radiating, almost blinding light. What lies beyond the archway is unknown, but the fierce light and large scale create a sense of mystery and a deep urge to explore what may be lying ahead.
Solivagant No More by Joe Parayno
Joe Parayno rendering embodies the widely-felt fear of the pandemic, the intense fatigue of isolation and the desperate desire to travel. This design consists of a home hitched on a giant balloon, which allows the structure to fly freely in the sky. This illustrative rendering depicts a hiker who comes across the flying house and joins the owner of the home on a traveling adventure. Both individuals connected over their shared urgency to travel and see the world. The home is a surreal take on the human necessity for freedom and mobility.
Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of March 11th, 2022. Submit a rendering.
Twenty interior design students at New York City’s Pratt Institute present their final projects in Dezeen’s latest school show.
From a building that could purify contaminated floodwater to analysing how to improve user’s airport experiences, these projects by undergraduate and postgraduate interior design students at Pratt Institute explore how interiors affect our environment and behaviour.
“The Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design at Pratt Institute has consistently ranked as the top interior design programmes in the United States and are considered to be some of the most prominent and influential. The courses prepare students to engage in critical inquiry and exploration – skills that establish them as innovators having an impact on the profession, the discipline and research on the interior environment.
“The programmes are architecturally oriented with emphasis on spatial articulation. They are designed to guide students in generating creative solutions by understanding craft, light, colour, and material research. Through theoretical and applied research, the curriculum addresses emerging and innovative technologies, interdisciplinary collaboration and sustainable practices. Both degrees focus on larger issues of ethical and social responsibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion through an understanding of global cultural history and its context.”
Solitary Living and Social Interactions in Urban Community by Bingyu Hu
“With different scales, functions and degrees of transparency, interior spaces serve as containers to protect privacy, stimulating communication and participation. As a result, they respond to individual’s lives while fostering community interaction.”
“Activating Boundaries addresses the way generic airport experiences have become passive due to the overwhelming amount of stress placed on users throughout their journey. The effects of these emotions leave the user searching for entertainment from the consumerism offered post-security check.
“Based on research, the stress users undergo are elevated in periods of waiting and delays when the presence of large lines appear. Is there an opportunity to repurpose these boundaries? Can stressors be transformed into a sensory experience? How can we transition from the independent isolation of travelling to experience the journey of travelling together?
“This thesis allowed me to investigate the future of design amidst a global pandemic that has altered the way we perceive space and people. It investigates reconnecting people with each other.”
Harvesting Water: Reimagining Environmental Waters as Constructive Materials in the Resilient Coastal Interior by Kats Tamanaha
“By 2060, an estimated 13 million Americans will be displaced due to rising sea levels and coastal flooding. This thesis explores the possibilities of tidal, flood and stormwater as ‘materials’ in our built environment. Here their potential is shifted, from substances that destroy to resilient tools used to manage flooding.
“Water within the built environment is hidden, hyper-controlled through intricate plumbing systems and filtered for use. Water within the exterior is uncontrolled and often feared. Floodwater is contaminated, picking up traces of where it has been and what it has touched. As sea levels rise, areas formerly at risk for 100-year floods will soon be submerged at high tide. How can the interior adapt to embrace the new reality of water rather than avoid it?
“My project embraces the future of permanent tidal flooding. The building passively phytoremediates toxic water while creating an adaptive form of the interior. It explores possibilities of tidal, flood, and stormwater as tools for long-term, in-place resiliency in coastal communities facing an increasing risk of flooding.”
“Fragment / Reconcile addresses the complexity of living in a post-conflict, economically deprived community that struggles under the burden of the past. Following the events of the troubles and the death of a dominant industry, an entire generation is coming of age in Derry who have to navigate insurmountable unemployment rates and forge a path to peace with little to no outside support.
“To help mitigate the most pressing issue for youth in Derry, I proposed an incubator and teaching facility to build community resilience through a network of small businesses. The centre would provide the resources currently lacking to retain their workforce and make upward mobility possible within the city.
“Growth is made possible by the incubator’s interactive and reflective practices. It engages with the community on a macro scale while also encouraging individual healing on a micro scale. As the user moves through space, it transitions from a collaborative environment to a self-reflective one. An archive becomes the basis upon which to preserve and reflect the collective memory of the people it serves. By being informed by the past, they can move towards the best version of their future.”
“This project puts forward new ways to inhabit in-between space. By breaking down interior elements one by one, a layering of interior and exterior space emerges and reinvents traditional spatial constructs.”
“This thesis focuses on the home as a ‘central agent of change’ in response to the remittance between the Salvadoran-American transnational identity. Here, remittance signifies the value of a cultural currency by forming a multi-generational landscape of retraced rituals and reassembled emblems.
“At the beginnings of a discourse, there is an agency in how the home responds to generational, cultural, psychological and environmental issues to constantly shape, design and re-examine contemporary living.”
“The Nest is a didactic and prototypical full-time detention centre designed for male adolescents who have committed minor crimes. It is a critique of the current antiquated prison form in New York City. It explores educational, healing, and therapeutic spatial relationships and rethinks surveillance in order to reform negative behaviours and support mental health issues.”
“Moments of Movement investigates how interior space can directly affect one’s bodily awareness and interactions with the environment. Rather than habitually moving through space, space can be designed to heighten our awareness of our body and its relationship with the material world.
“The intention is to bring more awareness and appreciation to those small, everyday events that we often perform on auto-pilot. Although we tend to seek out spectacular events, life often happens in those everyday moments in-between. Rather than rushing past them, the users are prompted to slow down and experience those moments.
“The thesis proposes that the body will be part of a network where interactions and movements through thresholds directly affect the environment. By augmenting thresholds within a parking garage and adding screens, mirrors, enhanced lighting, walls and monitors, body movements will be figured as the form-making material of the project. As the body moves within and between various garage zones, it becomes part of a network and explores the relationship between the environment and agency.”
Building Within Memory: Strengthening Place Identity in Deteriorating Environments by Claire Riordan
“Place-identity is defined by a person’s cognitions about the physical world around them. At their core are a person’s environmental past, made up of places, spaces and characteristics that have shaped their biological, psychological, social, and cultural needs.
“This thesis analyzes how the changing built environment can be used as a tool to reveal layers of place-identity. The mutual experience of change over time will inform the connection between the physical body and the spatial body, resulting in a stronger sense of self-identity.”
“Through the theory that performance exists every day, stage fright occurs in domestic, banal settings. In this project, customers in a retail furniture store become performers during their perusal of the staged vignettes by subverting social thresholds and design standards, new social and physical relationships form, alleviating the stigma of stage fright.
“Set in the theatrical and historical furniture showroom – ABC Carpet and Home – the staged sets which aim to present a home setting are critiqued as performative. Hired performers act out different domestic activities and shoppers find themselves crossing the threshold from audience to performer. In their attempt to look at the furniture, test it and imagine it in their own homes, they become part of the performance.
“An open floor plan allows for programmes to cross over, as a bed becomes a seat in a dining setting. Some toilets are for show, while others have working plumbing. The sets have spotlights, curtains and a fly system that allows for changing scenes, as furniture flies overhead, adding a theatrical quality to the performance.”
“This thesis explores a shared harmonic environment for residents and tourists. It uses performance rituals to create a prototypical system for cultural interaction and social harmony in creative cities of music evaluated by UNESCO.
“Spatial devices create new relationships between tourists and residents, combining with daily events such as dining or lounging, and cultivating cross-cultural understanding through the universal language of music and integrating it into the celebration of rituals such as holidays and food.
“The rituals will create a specific spatial quality by increasing culture experiences by controlling the sound transparency and visualizing the vibration of sound.”
“Curating Urban Wormholes explores the city through a new lens: by inserting cinematic experiences in sidewalk freight elevators that connect invisible, disparate moments in the cityscape. The elevators function as portals to parallel universes providing a social and cultural exchange between program and user.
“The project was inspired by the loss of authentic cinematic experiences due to the pandemic and the heterotopic quality of underutilized niches in the city.
“The network of temporary cinematic installations in sidewalk freight elevators reengages the city by activating unused, ‘other’ spaces, unlocking the city’s true potential. The curated serendipity of the wormholes invites the rediscovery of the urban landscape.
“These wormholes have a nodular quality that gives them an existence of their past the time of their installation, allowing them to leave behind traces in the urban fabric that add to the layered experience of the city.”
Beneath the Surface: An Inquiry into Boundary as a Didactic Threshold to Promote Awareness by Nella Gray
“Beneath the Surface explores ways to create tension within layers of interior design to provoke awareness and empathy for evasive issues.
“This project questions the separation of people from systems of production and waste as it enables apathy towards the concealed relationship of consumption and environmental degradation.”
“Borrowing existing materials inherent to the New York City subway station, such as the 3×6 tiles, the project will manipulate the surfaces of the City Hall Station to become an interactive, acoustical field of sonic densities. This experiential-interactive installation intends to address the notion of speed by making the acoustic field and the different paces of the city visual. In other words, rendering auditory data points visible to understand the functioning of NYC.
“The exploration is towards creating an interactive instrument activated through the movement of the users and the train in relation to the parallax effect.
“City Hall Station is underneath the City Hall Park, and the entrance is through the park. It is a loop station for Train Six: The station has existing skylights to the park’s surface.
“The project will be taking a material inherent to the subway station and recreate exposed surfaces in a different function, colour, and densities of tiles to highlight the notion of speed which could be experienced visually and acoustically.”
Pools Under Pavement by Michael Antonio Warren (MFA Interior Design) A Void: Rising Sea Level by Seung Heon Lee (BFA Interior Design) Implicit Bias by Xinxiao Hui (BFA Interior Design) Weaving Connectivity by Xiaoke Li (MFA Interior Design) Breathing Rules by Yang Pei (MFA Interior Design) Haptic Therapy Centre by Honghao Chen (BFA Interior Design)
The portfolio and thesis presentations of the Pratt School of Design MFA and BFA Interior Design Class of 2021 can be found on Pratt Institute’s website.
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and The Pratt Institute. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Floating Vestiges by Timlok Li
The House of the Rising Sun
Joint Structures
The Oasis
ISAURA, A city that moves entirely upward
The Crevasse
Enter the Garden
Solivagant No More 
