. . . walls can be friendly, too
Not all walls are built for the purposes of concealment or protection
of privacy, nor must they be solid and therefore somewhat unfriendly.
The pierced wall, of which we show many examples in the sketches,
is a favorite of gardeners today because it encloses an area, yet gives it
ventilation (important for humans as well as plants) while maintaining
privacy. It will break the force of hot or cold blasts of winds which
sweep your land, taming them so that outdoor living can be made not
only possible but even pleasant during normally severe weather. The
decorative effect of bricks and blocks can hardly be praised enough, for
they may be assembled in myriad ways to give practically any textural
effect desired. No wall need be a blank enclosure when texture and
shadow effects are present, even if no plantings are used with the wall.
Speaking of blank walls reminds us that we must examine the case
of the high retaining wall. Often this may be a thing of necessity rather
than one of beauty, yet this need not be the case. For the amateur
craftsman any wall of more than 3 or 4 feet in height is a considerable
undertaking, particularly if the wall is to be made of concrete. We
advise that, if the wall must be of more than 4 feet in height to retain
the soil of a hillside, you hire a contractor to build it for you. If you wish
to veneer the concrete later on with bricks or blocks, you will be able
to do so if you arrange to have a jog left on the foundation to hold the
veneer.
We wish to raise the question of whether or not retaining walls need
to be so high. There is a bleakness which is very grim about the large
stretches of unrelieved masonry. They also have problems of bracing
and of making heavy footings to hold their weight.
We submit that it would be less troublesome to make terraces down
the hillside, with two or more retaining walls spaced three to six feet
apart. The amateur could build these himself. Footings would be less
expensive and the weight of each wall less, the strain being divided between the two or more walls rather than concentrated on one. Besides
all this, the aesthetic effect would be more pleasant Planting beds in
front of each wall would give a chance for shrubs, evergreens, flowers;
and the long lines of the walls would make the hillside seem less
dominant, because they would expand the visual width of the property
and minimize the vertical measure. Vines could be trained to hang over
the edge and soften the lines of the walls, and tall-growing shrubs
would also break the lines interestingly.
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