An Appreciation of Stone 5

The two photos are from a job of mine installed back in the mid-90's in South Carolina. The stone is from Briar Hill a Stoneyard/Quarry in Central, Ohio.

I have always liked Briar Hill, and will always continue to try and find ways to use it on work I design. The wall stone comes in several different heights which allow for this kind of artistic feel when putting a wall together.

When I personally did this work I always rock-faced the bottom edge a little deeper to create a more interesting shadow line. Try that with modular concrete retaining wall block.


A comment on these steps; they are shipper 48" wide, 16" deep, and 6" high. Just about perfect for outdoor steps in just about any application. Now here's the great part . . . they lay up faster and easier than pouring concrete steps. I cannot think of any reason why these steps would ever be more expensive to install than concrete, and as for the look; well . . . you decide.

Theres one wall stone out of place in this photo, which did get fixed by the way. My other comment is the landing pad stone is a piece of whats called 3" offset.

The backside of these walls is typical construction, gravel, fabric, and pipe. Remembering the enemy of every wall ever made is water, and water pressure.

Update on the Terrace

The drawings of the terrace I had been showing over the past couple of days took a final turn yesterday. After e-mailing the client that I had posted the rendering of his deck idea, I received a quick reply . . . "Oh we are going with extending the concrete and round off the end. We're talking to the contractor about the cost".

Luckily I've reached the point in my career where I take none of this personally. That this is a slam on my work or ideas. In this case this is a client who can't make up his mind, and my guess is he will change again. Which way-not sure.

If you go back to my original drawings for this terrace I had extended the concrete (tiled it over) and put the steps at this end. Look back to July 28th and 25th to see those drawings. It was my intention to limit the amount of surfaces in this small backyard-so; in a way, the client is working with me here.

So where does this leave us? We are back to one surface for the porch/landing, we have only one set of stairs, we have a good amount of space to create a dynamic terrace, and we still have room to install enough plant material to soften, enhance, and improve the space.

I still don't like where the steps are going but this is part of the art of compromise that good designers must go through. This level of dialogue and give and take is something that designers must learn as they improve the level at which the work. The more complicated the project, the higher the dollar, and the level of sophistication requires more than knowing right plant-right place . This is where the real juice comes in and for me I enjoy this, a lot.

The final analysis is simply this . . . if you want to become a really good Landscape Designer you need to remember what that really means---problem solving. It's this problem solving where Landscape Designers really earn their money. After all how many calls do you get when homeowners are happy and satisfied.

The Terrace Battle takes a Turn

The homeowner is still adamant about adding another type of surface material to the backyard, and because he lives on a lake he's looking for something with a little bit of a nautical theme-hence the deck with wood post and "rope for railing".

With the addition of the deck surface we have the porch surface, the stone steps, and the slate for the paved area out on the small lawn. Thats 4 types of surface and thats at least 1 too many in such a large space. But this is a situation where the homeowner seems to be dug in solid.

It appears that I have been able to persuade them to one set of steps, this allows for better flow of traffic through the backyard and actually saves them money in time and materials. The extra set of steps would have been very expensive in terms of how that cost would relate to the overall budget.

When we agree on how the footprint of the deck will look I will post that here. Its going to come down to how the edge is rounded off or not rounded off. A matter of aesthetics vs. space

The Terrace Battle continues

This is a look form the other side concerning how the space above the stone walls would look. This image is a continuation from Tuesdays post.

We are still trying to convince the homeowner he is going to need at least two more steps than he has planned for. In this rendering I am trying to show him that.

This part of Landscape Design, getting the elevations correct in the Hardscape plan is where we separate the novice from the professional. I also would like to think this is where we elevate (pardon the pun) the art of landscape design. The steps can be crude, rough, uneven, un-level, slanted, ugly, etc. or the can be even, level, graceful and flowing. Heck they can even be pleasing to the eye.

There is potential to elevate them above utilitarian-which is whats happening with the advent of modular concrete block. Which are level, and even but lack real style. Well here comes the heat from those guys. But the truth is the truth.

At any rate as I was typing this I was in contact with the homeowner and I need to make another attempt at the landing coming out of the sunroom. Which is the set of doors at the far left.

Terrace Design, another attempt

This job is a prime example of being called in late on the job. The homeowner has committed to certain aspects of the job and is unwilling/unable/inflexible in his desire to change. The steps are going in on the far right of this photo . . . no matter what. Also the short boulder beds are going to be built . . . no matter what. We need to come out this door onto something . . . no matter what. however there is real debate on "what" that is we will be coming out onto.

I have held out with the explanation for only having one set of steps, coming off these not so deep porches. The drawing below shows what I am trying to do concerning my idea(s). Go down to July 25th and 28th you'll see what I presented in the 1st meeting, which was rejected. The other steps had been started with no plan in mind but they were staying, they were started-they were staying . . . end of discussion.

This is my 1st sketch for the new configuration-it is very rough, but it gives me a good idea of how this would work. I throw in the green to get a idea of space allowed for green and also when I do the next overlay it is easier to read this drawing underneath.

The broad stokes of the marker are much faster to lay down than scribbling in some plants with a pen/pencil. Again allowing me to work faster on the technique which frees' me up to concentrate on the problem at hand . . . getting off that porch down on to the lower terrace.

This rendering with the out of whack perspective line(s) on the house is the one I will show the client. The homeowner will get a much better idea of what we are trying to achieve in his space.

One set of steps to minimize wasting valuable space on transition. This frees up important flat space for the main terrace overlooking the lake. Which is very tight. Wrapping the wall all the way around creates planting beds at 2 heights for added interest. Finally we control the space better by funneling the traffic through one main walkway-the only walkway, freeing up more space to create interesting planting beds along the walkway.

More on the Terrace Design

 
This is another drawing of the same angle with different materials. I'm going to call this a warm-up drawing for the day. I did change the paver material color and lower how the plants would look.
 
Sectional Drawing: Not quite a true sectional because I added a few things that would not be on the section line I cut through the plan view. It does show the homeowner a good look at the relationship between the porch/steps/ and patio. A real quick drawing with the number one intention of showing how the steps would work out.

This was not taken off a photograph. Sectionals are good to show transition, change of elevation, and spacing. For me personally it is always better to show in some type of scale so these relationships show correctly. 

Conceptual Drawings for Terrace and Patio

 
This is the before picture. Homeowners acting as their own general contractors have called us in late. There is no good access to lower area. The boulder retaining walls were built in such a way as to actually minimize usable space. Add to that there is only the narrow, obvious, perfectly centered set of steps to the lake. Symmetry where there shouldn't be any symmetry.
 
Here is a early pencil sketch for a possible solution. Everything seems tight.
 
Furthering the solution along-everything seems tight, and it is because the space is small. The homeowners have really boxed me in, and the contractor is hoping I come up with a solution.

I need a terrace, a set of steps (not two sets of steps), a small patio out on the edge (this is a must, it's a great spot), and some planting space to soften transitions. Oh, I also need a firepit, though I think this is going to have to go below.

If anything comes out of this blog I hope it is this. If you are a homeowner; actually a "building" homeowner (or about to build) . . . get the landscape designer involved as soon as possible. Even before you site your house on the property.
We deal with these spaces, access, drainage, lines-of-sight issues, etc. 100's if not 1,000's of times. The sooner the Designer is involved the sooner the homeowner starts saving money.

More on this later today/tomorrow 

Terrace Design

This was a proposal for a terrace overlooking a valley in some rolling Ohio farmland. The space was a 100 or so feet from the house and would have been a nice walk over; coffee cup in hand, to enjoy the morning.

Unfortunately this was the 1st area cut from the budget, actually the budget was obliterated. So this will never happen. Still I thought I would post this to give some ideas for those searching for hardscape ideas.

There have been a lot of hits to the site lately by those looking for info on hardscape design/planning/materials/installation. Hopefully this is just more food for thought.

The real key with planning hardscapes is to realize they will be the focal point in the area they are installed and secondly they need to be planned for-not only for final design, but what I really mean-is the construction. There is a lot of material(s) involved and the work needs to be done in correct sequence. The access must be appropriate in size/width and ease of approach.

Don't forget below ground either. Pipes, wires, plumbing, etc. Need to be dealt with in the earliest stages of construction. Consider future projects and plan accordingly. Run extra sleeves for any pipe or wires that may need to be installed down the road. Heck, it is a lot easier to dig ditches early, than to have to "dig up" stuff-dig ditches, and then replace stuff.

A last thought on surface, don't get cute with a funky paver color or pattern, find something that feels right within the site you are working. Some pattern is fine, otherwise it becomes busy-too noisy (visually). Which can be a bad thing. The World is busy enough . . . create clean simplistic, strong lines. Lines that are restful to the eye but still dynamic in appearance and design.

2nd Look at wall

This is from another angle for the same project as yesterday. Trying out different ways to install a wall that is needed to hold up the new parking area, but at the same time not dominant the entire landscape.

My guess is the wall will be shortened and cut back sooner into the bank-not wrapping all the way around. If we add a step or two at the house we will negate some height in the wall also-an extra step or two is more cost effective to overall budget.

The real question will be will the homeowner go for the idea, and for the suggestion that the wall be done in brick-like the house. We shall see. 

Advancing the design

This rendering takes it a little further along in the process. Here we have "more defined" the space for what it needs to become.

This clean of a drawing is actually being shown to homeowner, without plant material.I would have preferred to add in the plant material, but the contractor was anxious to move the process along. 

Rendering, sketches

This is a couple of early looks at a weird situation. The main driveawy is down below but the front door is way above-so we need some walls. terraces, and over 20 steps to get to the top.

Maybe I should just design another driveway, further down the gravel drive to get up and around to the front door. Even though the homeowners seem to be against the idea.