Akron-Canton Airport—North Canton, OH

Terrazzo is an art in itself. We encompass and incorporate artist’s designs into a project to produce beautiful murals in a floor for everyone to enjoy. – Joshua A. Cohol

When Joshua A. Cohol and his team at Youngstown Tile & Terrazzo Co. were approached to work on the Akron-Canton Regional Airport project, he was excited to be able to leave his mark on such a historic location. Before work began on the space, the Akron-Canton Regional Airport Authority held a contest with local artists. Josh and his team had the privilege of working with the artist to help bring their artistic vision to life in the design of the project. Josh and his team bent strips, cut tiles, and worked closely with the artist, architect, and others to transform the atrium – which was the main focus of the project – with eye-catching terrazzo.

The Akron-Canton Regional Airport project covered a lot of space and design work and construction was done while the airport was open. The crew had to work around the hustle and bustle of a busy airport, and maneuver around a lot of passengers’ and employees’ foot traffic. The airport’s atrium was the main focus because it is the centralized point. It also happens to house exhibits and displays that showcase the history of the airport. It’s one of the first spaces that passengers see when they arrive in the airport or depart from a plane.

Because of this, Josh wanted to make sure his team’s work made a statement. They managed to make this happen with the terrazzo design. Some of the most notable features of the space are the Tree of Life and its leaves. The leaves on the tree are shaped like footballs, and each leaf has the names of famous people from Ohio or the names of popular Ohio cities and businesses. The level of detail is so astonishing that each leaf was positioned to highlight the person, business, or city.

The level of detail put into the project was incredible. Josh and his team enjoyed working with officials from the airport, the designer, and the artist to create such a beautiful space. According to Josh: “There aren’t many projects where we get to do so much artistry within terrazzo. We were able to work with the owner, Lenny, to make his dream a reality.”

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