Buffalo AKG terrazzo work earns NTMA honor for Tiede-Zoeller

By AI, Created 4:51 PM UTC, June 02, 2026, /AGP/ – Tiede-Zoeller Tile Corp. won a 2026 NTMA Honor Award for its terrazzo work on the Buffalo AKG Art Museum’s Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building. The project mattered because the firm had to engineer custom solutions for a museum expansion that blended a 1905 landmark with a new contemporary gallery.

Why it matters: - The Buffalo AKG Art Museum expansion needed a single material system that could connect a historic 1905 Beaux-Arts building with a new gallery. - Tiede-Zoeller Tile Corp. turned terrazzo into a key architectural tool across the project, and that work earned national recognition from the National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association. - The award highlights how custom craft and engineering can shape major civic cultural projects when standard details do not exist.

What happened: - Tiede-Zoeller Tile Corp. of Cheektowaga, N.Y., received a 2026 Honor Award from the National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association on May 13 at the association’s annual convention. - The award recognized Tiede-Zoeller’s terrazzo work on the Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. - The firm is marking its 100th anniversary this year. - Cooper Robertson, acquired by Corgan in 2025, served as executive architect. - OMA New York was the design architect, led by partner Shohei Shigematsu with project architects Lawrence Siu and Paxton Sheldahl.

The details: - The new gallery uses epoxy terrazzo on all four floors. - An elevated serpentine structure bridges the new gallery to the original museum building. - The installation includes 31 distinct color mixes arranged in a subtle chromatic progression. - The project uses the full range of terrazzo aggregates, from micro-blend mixes to large-format Palladiana, on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. - Custom terrazzo air grilles were embedded in the floor. - Jason Cadorette of Corgan said terrazzo works well in the gallery because it responds to natural light and is durable and versatile. - The central stair in the Gundlach Building is a precast cylindrical monumental staircase. - The staircase includes 102 straight and radius treads and risers made from 28 separate design mixes. - Colors shift from terracotta tones at lower levels to light pewter hues above. - The museum’s Tree of Life Courtyard is a glass-domed space centered on a monumental glass art tree. - A micro-aggregate terrazzo mix was cast over a hydronic radiant-heated slab in that courtyard. - In the second-floor atrium, Tiede-Zoeller designed and installed a handcrafted Palladiana terrazzo floor called Buffalo Winter. - The Buffalo Winter pattern moves from large irregular marble slabs to finer Venetian terrazzo to mimic falling snow. - NTMA classifies Venetian terrazzo as a mix that uses larger aggregate chips than standard mixes. - The project used both precast and poured-in-place terrazzo to keep each space distinct while maintaining cohesion across the building.

Between the lines: - The most notable technical challenge was the 152 removable terrazzo air grilles installed flush with the floor. - The specification provided no established standard, and no prior installation was known to have used precast terrazzo for foot-traffic-bearing grilles. - Tiede-Zoeller developed the grille system by bonding 5/8-inch epoxy terrazzo to a 1/4-inch stainless steel plate and waterjet-cutting the parts to final form. - Because the grilles sat near exterior windows, condensation management affected the opening dimensions. - The contractor spent several months coordinating with the architecture team and the precast vendor before production began. - Cadorette said Tiede-Zoeller’s long experience was essential and that the team only pushed back when something truly could not be done. - The award also reflects how much of the project’s design depended on fabrication details that were not resolved at the outset.

What’s next: - NTMA said a full list of this year’s 17 Honor Award recipients is available at ntma.com. - NTMA continues to offer technical guidance, resources, and AIA-registered continuing education for architects and design professionals. - The association said Technical Director Gary French is available at gary@ntma.com for additional information.

The bottom line: - Tiede-Zoeller’s award-winning work shows how terrazzo can do more than finish a surface: It can solve structural, aesthetic, and technical problems at the same time.