Crayola Experience

The Crayola Experience, which opened this past summer in Orlando, Florida, is a place where children can discover “the magic of color.” There are 25 interactive attractions and children are encouraged to play, explore, and learn. With this emphasis on creativity, the crayon manufacturer wanted to make sure the facility was imaginative and colorful – even down to its floors.

To achieve floors that met Crayola’s color expectations required thinking “outside the (crayon) box.” The Crayola Experience was going into an existing retail space, and when the demolition was done and the floor was reinforced, they discovered the concrete floor was in very poor shape and had many cracks. Tommy Clay, owner and general manager at Ardor Solutions of Oviedo, Florida, the flooring contractors, said, “We had planned to do a concrete stain but the floor required way too much work. Not only would repairing and staining the concrete be cost-prohibitive, but it also wouldn’t provide the vividness of the colors Crayola wanted.”

Fortunately, Clay knew of a product that he thought would be “a perfect match”: ComfortFloor from Sika Industrial Flooring. ComfortFloor is a seamless, fluid-applied urethane floor system, which provides both comfort and toughness by combining softness under foot and durability. It is also available in custom colors.

“I like ComfortFloor because it is a softer floor, wears like iron, and is phenomenal in high-traffic areas,” Clay remarked. “In fact, I’ve had ComfortFloor in my office for four years and there is no sign of wear, even under my office chair.”

Scott Mellen, senior project manager at J. Raymond Construction Company of Longwood, Florida, the general contractor on the project, said he was very pleased with Ardor Solutions’ recommendation. “I knew the original idea of stained concrete would be too expensive and the colors wouldn’t be vibrant enough,” he stated. “While I had never used ComfortFloor before, it seemed like a great system, would require minimal restoration, and it came in an endless spectrum of colors.” 

Along with infinite, vivid colors, two other advantages of ComfortFloor are the “give” or softness of the floor and the acoustical benefits. “The Orlando Crayola Experience was designed to host 2,400 kids in the space at one time,” said David Roesler, manager of facilities design at Crown Center Redevelopment Company of Kansas City, Missouri, a subsidiary of Crayola owner Hallmark Cards. “These happy children can be a bit noisy, so I’m pleased with the acoustical properties of the ComfortFloor,” he added. “Plus if a child trips or takes a tumble, there’s more cushion to the floor.”

Read the full version of this colorful and creative Sika At Work.