For a decade, the Mondéco floor at Dubai’s Times Square Center shopping mall has been providing an artistic, clean and safe surface underneath its visitor’s feet.
Installed in 2006, the 1,100m2 seamless epoxy terrazzo finish has been creating a visually appealing and engaging retail environment while simultaneously delivering the functionality and longevity that the site’s operators need to ensure that it maintains a clean, contaminant-free space.
When the mall was being built, the conceptual architects IR Design wanted a floor that would convey the contemporary, high-end style of the Times Square Center without sacrificing practical construction or maintenance criteria.
To achieve this, the Mondéco floor was applied in a bespoke design of flowing lines, interconnecting circles and symmetrical patterns. A palette of seven creative, complimentary colours was used during the project and light reflective additives were incorporated into the finish to create a stylised, high-end surface.
The complex motifs and shapes were outlined on the floor using aluminium inlays, into which the resin material was trowelled. The entire floor area was then ground down to achieve a level surface and sealed to make the additives shine.
The seamless, joint free nature of Mondéco makes it easy to keep the finish clean and unblemished, ensuring that each visitor experiences the full “wow” factor of the shopping centre’s decorative floor.
The Times Square Center project exemplifies the ability of resin terrazzo to withstand the demanding conditions of large-scale retail environments, where the floor will be subjected to heavy and continuous foot traffic, frequent cleaning, scuffs, scrapes, scratches and abrasions. Despite ten years of wear, the colours haven’t faded, the aggregates remain bright and the floor’s elaborate pattern looks as fresh as it did in 2006.
The Mondéco finish has provided the shopping center with a variety of long-term financial and operational benefits compared to alternative flooring materials. For example its long lifespan (which can be in excess of 40 years if properly maintained) makes it one of the most durable flooring solutions available. On average seamless resin terrazzo floors also have the lowest annual maintenance cost as well as the lowest overall cost when the initial expenditure is divided into its extensive service life.
Alongside the aesthetic, functional and budgetary advantages, Mondeco floors also enhance a building’s sustainability credentials by utilising recycled content, reducing the amount of material taken to environmentally damaging landfills.
