Ensemble and master plan
Terracing
housing complexcampushotelschoolhillside park
A way of setting a building or development on a hillside with stepped platforms that follow the contour lines, instead of cutting a large flat platform.
What it solves
It moves less earth, lets water flow gently from one level to the next and reduces the risk of landslides. Each terrace gains views, sun and breeze without blocking the one behind.
Today
Place the buildings in strips parallel to the contour lines and balance cuts with fill within the same site. Give each terrace its own drainage and link the levels with ramps and stairs.
Common mistake
Flattening the whole hillside with machinery and leaving tall slopes without vegetation or drainage.
Tomorrow
On hillsides under pressure from heavier rain, terracing allows building while leaving strips of forest between platforms. Low walls of stone or earth from the site itself can be built with local skills.
Where it comes from
- 1Persian mountain village Masuleh, Gilan, Iran, inhabited since at least the 10th century
Its houses step up the mountain, and the roof of one serves as the courtyard or street of the one above. - 2Inca Machu Picchu, Peru, around 1450
The city sits on stone terraces built in layers that drain rain and protect the mountain from erosion and landslides.
Masters
- Geoffrey Bawa University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka, 1988
He divided the campus into pavilions around three steep hills, linked by roofed walkways that cross or follow the contour lines. He teaches how to order a large complex without erasing the topography.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Ensemble and master plan
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.