Ceramic roundabouts
Ceramic tiles offer major advantages in one of the latest urban design applications.
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Ceramic tiles produced by local companies have been used as design elements on two roundabouts recently built in the municipality of Fiorano Modenese (province of Modena, Italy). The porcelain tiles with a natural stone appearance (size 30x30 cm and thickness 8.6 millimetres) have been installed on the central island on the roundabouts. The two roundabouts involved in this innovative project have diameters of 24 metres and 30 metres respectively. Porcelain tiles are particularly suitable due to their textured surface reminiscent of natural stone and their outstanding frost and abrasion resistance. When used in appropriate thicknesses, they are also excellent at withstanding mechanical stress. The advantages of tiles include lower installation costs (a factor that favours the use of ceramic tiles in other urban design applications such as pavements and pedestrian areas) and outstanding resistance to light and the elements, allowing tiles to maintain their original colour indefinitely.
Furthermore, ceramic tiles are available in a wide range of colours and decorations, giving designers ample scope to create highly personalised urban design projects.
Tiles with the widest range of colours have been used on these two projects, including plain blue, white spots on a black background, and grey with black and white dots. The tiles are used to pave the raised island and to cover the central unit of the structure.
The tiles serve for cladding and protection and at the same time as decorative elements with outstanding aesthetic merits.
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