The challenge for any landscape design professional is to establish a unique image and singular identity for challenging projects. As recent as 10 years ago, designers faced with difficult transitions in project site grading would have been relegated to costly cast-in-place concrete retaining walls, crib or railroad tie walls. Today there are a litany of options available to the innovative designer.

Emerging as one of the most viable options are concrete segmental retaining wall units (SRWs). SRWs have the advantage of offering multiple product shapes, sizes, colors and facing textures. Additional features are economic cost, constructability and a proven system design methodology.

Current trends in the use of SRWs is more architectural including different split faces and textures. Newer product offering are tumbled units with more random block patterns to better emulate natural stone providing more color use, especially with blended or multi-colored blocks.

?EUR??,,????'??There is also a trend for use in more water applications such as channels, drainage swales, detention ponds and water features and for their use in non-traditional designs involving water fountains, parapet walls and columns,?EUR??,,????'?? explains Drew Mengwasser, ASLA, with TBG Partners, ?????EUR??,,?EUR a Dallas-based Landscape Architectural firm.

Another advantage of SRWs, especially in today?EUR??,,????'???s ?EUR??,,????'??Green?EUR??,,????'?? design environment is that SRWs are more beneficial for the environment. Made of non-invasive, environmentally-correct materials concrete retaining wall blocks are chemically stable. Landscape timbers have an arsenic component and areunder review by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); railroad ties are treated with creosote which some municipalities treat as hazardous waste.
When used in water applications, SRWs are more beneficial to the environment than concrete lined channels. Channels lined with concrete on the sides and bottom allow the water to heat up during hot summer days and are detrimental to aquatic life compared with the SRW?EUR??,,????'???s modular walls and natural creek bottoms. SRWs can also be designed in conjunction with articulating concrete blocks (ACBs) as a channel bottom protection. SRW walls allow the water and the channel to infiltrate and exfiltrate with the water behind the blocks. ?????EUR??,,?EUR Some governmental agencies require channel walls to be built with retaining wall systems that allow groundwater to communicate through the sides of the channel when lined.

Creative design of walls such as using color banding can be used more often in commercial applications. Banding is typically accomplished through different textures of block or by intermingling different size block. Banding can also be done with color by building either horizontal stripes or stair step type stripes in retaining walls. Adds Sam Miller ?EUR??,,????'??I have seen the use of color used very creatively in a number of walls including patterns to simulate the effect of mountains in the distance on a retaining wall, university initials over 10.0 feet tall built into a wall facia using color, use of colors on DOT wall to simulate built in columns or vertical stripes in retaining walls.?EUR??,,????'?? Generally the use of color and/or banding is an inexpensive way to add distinction to a project since the color accents typically add little to the overall cost of construction.

Additionally, flexible SRW systems lend themselves well to integrated design with interlocking concrete pave stones to create an overall aesthetically pleasing hardscape. ?????EUR??,,?EUR Colors and textures can be closely matched between the blocks and the pavers. Often, the same manufacturer can supply both the pavers and the SRW blocks. Tumbling or antiquing both the pavers and the wall units has become very fashionable both in residential and commercial projects.

Any type of feature can be added to the design of an SRW to enhance the aesthetics. ?????EUR??,,?EUR These include waterfalls, staircases, embedded lights, free standing columns, fountains, planters and free standing walls.

?EUR??,,????'??One of the great advantages of SRWs is that they can be constructed in virtually any configuration or layout,?EUR??,,????'?? said Scott ?EUR??,,????'??Sam?EUR??,,????'?? Miller, P.E., Scott Miller Consulting Engineer, Little Rock, Arkansas. ?EUR??,,????'??Ninety degree turns, tight radiuses, odd degree corners such as twenty degree corners or 130 degree corners can be easily constructed in the field unlike concrete walls, which require extensive formwork and other costs.?EUR??,,????'?? ?????EUR??,,?EUR Mengwasser adds ?EUR??,,????'??Not being limited to only straight and serpentine applications allows a design professional to display their full design creativity. SRWs can be constructed to virtually any shape imaginable?EUR??,,????'??

Alan Starling is the District Sales Manager for Pavestone Company