A terraced wall, also a terrace wall, or a terraced retaining wall is a
wall
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including:
* Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...
that is divided into sections (
terraces) over a slope. Such designs are useful when building on a steep
grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also ref ...
. Terraced walls may be built with many different
materials
Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...
.
Some
crater
Crater may refer to:
Landforms
*Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet
*Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...
s have terraced walls, which includes
complex craters
Complex craters are a type of large impact crater morphology.
Above a certain threshold size, which varies with planetary gravity, the collapse and modification of the transient cavity is much more extensive, and the resulting structure is call ...
.
Types of terraced walls
A ''partially terraced wall'' is designed so that the upper terrace and lower terrace come back together, forming a taller wall. The wall may still work well, but may have
aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
issues.
There are two types. In an ''independent terraced wall'', the upper wall applies little or no weight load on the lower wall. In a ''dependent terraced wall'', the upper wall places a weight load on the lower wall.
See also
*
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
*
Buttress dam A buttress dam or hollow dam is a dam with a solid, water-tight upstream side that is supported at intervals on the downstream side by a series of buttresses or supports. The dam wall may be straight or curved. Most buttress dams are made of reinfor ...
*
Flying buttress
The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...
*
Load-bearing wall A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it.
Load-bearing walls are one of the ear ...
*
Retaining wall
Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides.
Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
*
Terrace (building)
A terrace is an external, raised, open, flat area in either a landscape (such as a park or garden) near a building, or as a roof terrace on a flat roof.
Ground terraces
Terraces are used primarily for leisure activity such as sitting, stroll ...
*
Terrace (earthworks)
In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...
*
Terrace garden
In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooks a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hardscape and the softscape.
History
;Persia
Since a level si ...
References
External links and references
Information on building a terraced gardenUS government's NASA on a crater with a terraced wallA youtube, on constructing a terrace wallAnother youtubeA youtube, on building rock walls for garden terraces
{{Architecture-stub
Types of wall