That food court tile pattern everyone thinks is 80s is actually 90s mall design

I was in an old mall in Ohio last week and noticed the classic terrazzo floor everyone posts pics of. Looked up the renovation permits on the county website and turns out that specific color scheme with the teal and peach was a 1994 renovation, not 1985 like I assumed. The dead giveaway is the geometric shapes are way too sharp for the 80s curved stuff. Anyone else found official records that changed what they thought they knew about a mall's timeline?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseywest28d ago

Honestly, I totally bought into the "80s terrazzo" thing for years. I even had a whole Instagram post about it once, all the teal and peach circles. Seeing you actually pulled the permits is wild, that 1994 timeline makes perfect sense because those sharp geometric shapes always felt more like the early 90s mall aesthetic to me, like a Gap or a Limited Too. Kinda feels like I have to rethink everything I thought I knew about that era of design now.

scott.grace28d ago

Totally agree with you @caseywest, those sharp geometric shapes are pure 90s mall nostalgia. I remember staring at that exact kind of terrazzo floor in a Food Court while waiting for my Aunt to finish shopping at The Limited. It's funny how we group decades together but really the design trends shifted so fast between 1988 and 1995. Makes me wonder what other design myths we've all just collectively agreed on without ever checking the actual records.