Uptown Station, Normal, IL

You’d be wrong to refer to Uptown Station in Normal, Ill., as a train station. Yes, it is the second-busiest Amtrak station in Illinois, right behind Chicago, servicing more than 200,000 passengers a year. But it is also a centralized hub for those traveling via plane, bus, car, and bike.

It’s also the town of Normal’s City Hall.

For such an important new public building with a huge amount of foot traffic, terrazzo was installed on the ground floor, where durability and a terrific first impression are top priorities.

In the building’s main throughway, an intricate terrazzo graphic of a compass includes tributes to each of the four modes of transportation that Uptown Station brings together: rail, bus, car, and bike. The design captures the essence of the station’s status as a multimodal transportation center, while elegantly uniting nostalgia for the past with the high-speed technology of the present.

The project, which recently received a 2013 NTMA Honor Award, also included precast terrazzo steps with poured-in-place epoxy terrazzo intermediate stair landings, precast 4-inch terrazzo along the walls, and poured-in-place 12-inch cove bases around the ground-floor columns.

Thanks to its resiliency, Uptown Station’s shiny terrazzo will be connecting travelers for decades to come, and the city’s finance department, situated on the third floor, won’t have to worry about unexpected maintenance costs.

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