Table Of ContentGrading
BIM
landscapingSMART
3D Machine Control Systems
Stormwater Management
Grading
BIM
landscapingSMART
3D Machine Control Systems
Stormwater Management
Peter Petschek
With a foreword by Peter Walker
3rd edition, revised
Birkhäuser
Basel
The photos at the beginning of each chapter are from the series “caminos,” by André Lehner, photogra-
pher, Zurich. The streetscapes are from Switzerland, South America, and Cape Verde.
Editing, project management and typesetting 3rd edition: Véronique Hilfiker Durand, Rodersdorf (CH)
Layout, cover design, and typesetting: Manuel Aurelio Ramírez Pérez, Campanillas / Málaga
Cover picture: André Lehner, Zurich
Typeset correction: Véronique Hilfiker Durand, Manuel Aurelio Ramírez Pérez
Translation from German into English: Laura Bruce, Berlin; Sarah-Louise Dechow, Rapperswil-Jona
(3rd edition)
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ISBN 978-3-0356-1956-0
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-0356-2029-0
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-0356-2037-5
German Print-ISBN 978-3-03821-509-7 (2nd edition, revised and expanded)
© 2019 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel
P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland
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The author would like to thank the following people and institutions
for their financial and expert support
Sponsorship:
University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil
Landscape Architecture Degree Program
ILF Institute for Landscape and Open Space
Grün Stadt Zürich
Expertise:
Prof. Sadik Artunc
Prof. Hannes Böhi
Michael Fluss
Peter Geitz
Kamni Gil
Mariusz Hermansdorfer
Ulrike Nohlen
Thomas Putscher
Marco Riva
Toni Sacchetti
Christian Tack
Project management, editing:
Véronique Hilfiker Durand
Contents
8 Foreword by Peter Walker 108 Landscape Stabilization
109 Soil
12 Introduction
112 Erosion and Landslides
18 History of Site Grading 114 Embankment Angle and Construction Technology
19 Developments in Plan Representation 115 An Overview of Slope Stabilization Construc-
25 Selected Projects tion Techniques
26 The Pueblo Grande Ball Court 116 Bioengineering Construction Methods
29 The Pyramids of the Branitz Landscape Park 117 Soil Protection Techniques
35 The “Poet’s Garden” at the G 59 in Zurich
118 Ground Stabilization Techniques
39 The Olympiapark in Munich
120 Stabilization Using Lime and Cement
45 Irchel Park Zurich
50 Landform at the Scottish National Gallery of 122 Reinforced Earth
Modern Art in Edinburgh 124 Geotextiles
58 Landform 125 Retaining Walls
125 Cantilevered Retaining Walls
68 The Basics of Site Grading 125 Gravity Retaining Walls
69 Small and Large Scale 128 Gabions
71 Slope 130 Stone Block Walls
71 Slope Calculations in Percent 130 Pre-cast Element Retaining Walls
72 Ratio 130 Natural Stone Retaining Walls
72 Angle of Incline
73 Gradient Formations 132 Grading Roads and Parking Spaces
75 Interpolation 133 Grading and Roads
77 Spot Elevations 133 Technical Basics
78 Contour Lines 139 Grading and Parking Spaces
84 Embankments 139 Terms
85 Profile 140 Arrangement and Dimensions
87 Cut and Fill Calculations 140 Horizontal Layout
87 Volume Calculations Using Profiles 141 Vertical Layout
88 Volume Calculations Using Contour Lines 142 Borders
88 Calculating Volume with Triangular Prisms 142 Planting
90 Grading: Purpose and Techniques 143 Handicapped Parking
90 The Purpose of Site Grading 143 Parking Lots in Overview: Tables, Calculation
94 Important Criteria Basics, Layout
95 Minimum and Maximum Slopes
95 Site Grading and Architecture 152 Grading and Stormwater Management
96 Approach to a Grading Plan 153 Stormwater Management Basics
102 Grading and Layout Plan 161 Calculations for Stormwater Management
162 landscapingSMART, Digital Terrain 200 Terrain Modeling and Construction
Modeling and BIM Machinery
165 Data Bases and Data Collection 203 Machinery for Soil Ecavation and Loading
168 Data Collection and Staking Out Work 207 Machinery for Soil Transportation
171 Digital Terrain Models 209 Machinery for Soil Compaction
174 Photogrammetric Modeling 210 Construction Machines for “Rainbowing”
177 Models
212 BIM for Landscape
177 History
214 Challenges
177 Sand Models
216 Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl
179 Printed Models
216 Frankfurt Four
179 Real-time Models
181 BIM construction in Landscape Architecture 217 Software
219 Conclusion
184 3D Machine Control Systems and BIM
186 Navigation Systems for Construction Machinery 220 Grading in Practice
222 Danube Flatbed Glide; Geitz und Partner GbR
186 2D: Ultrasound
Landschaftsarchitekten
187 2D: Laser
226 Erlentor Stadthof, Basel; Westpol Landschafts-
188 3D: Tachymeter
architektur
188 3D: GNSS
228 Swiss Cottage Open Space, London; Gustafson
191 Machine Display and Control Systems Porter
191 Fully Automated and Semi-Autonomous Machines 232 Northumberlandia, Cramlington; Charles
191 Semi-Automated Crawlers, Graders, and Jencks and the Banks Group
Excavators
236 SGI/Google Corporate Headquarters;
192 Indicate or Guidance Systems for Caterpillars, Mountain View, SWA
Loaders, and Excavators
238 Desert Ridge Marriot, Phoenix; SWA
193 Suitability of the Different Systems for Grading
240 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank; SWA
194 BIM and DTM Preparation for 3D Machine
Control 242 Qiaoyuan Wetland Park, Tianjin; Turenscape
Landscape Architects
195 BIM
244 Victorian Desalination Project, Victoria;
197 DTM Preparation for 3D Machine Control
ASPECT Studios
197 Land Surveys / Basic Data
246 Millenium Parklands, Sydney; PWP Landscape
197 Exchange Format
Architecture
197 Navigation
197 DTM “Road Surface” 248 Appendix
197 DTM “Planum” 249 Exercises in Grading
198 Curbs
269 Glossary
198 Road Construction Projects
275 Literature / Sources
198 Civil Engineering Works
278 Illustrations
199 Excavation Work
199 Cables and Pipes 279 Biographies
Foreword by Peter Walker
It is with great pleasure that I write this introduction to Grading. BIM, landscapingSMART,
3D Machine Control Systems, Stormwater Management. Certainly, the importance of
earth grading to our profession cannot be overestimated.
In my first public project as a young landscape architect in 1960, the grading estab-
lished the site plan but also determined the human scale of the car-free campus. Foothill
College in Los Altos Hills, California, near Palo Alto and Stanford University, was one of
the first post-war, two-year junior colleges to be built according to an ambitious Califor-
nian master plan to expand all higher-education facilities in the state. The site consisted
of two rather steep small hills with a series of mature oaks and redwoods that we intended
to preserve. The proposed complex of buildings, however, was too large to fit comfortably
on either hilltop, and so it was decided to divide the spatial plan with the academic com-
plex on the northern hill, and the sports facilities to the south. The two hills were joined
by a wooden footbridge. Since there was still not enough level terrain for the plan, we de-
cided to grade down both hilltops. Our goals were accomplished with a balanced grading
plan that aesthetically shaped the site into a beautiful and prizewinning campus of rolling
lawns and winding paths, without the loss of any of the major existing trees.
For thousands of years, earth-moving work was done manually. Buildings and roads,
farms and fields were generally adapted to the existing contours of the site, which re-
mained largely unmodified. Moving earth was so expensive that only kings and emperors
could afford major projects, such as the famous Imperial Gardens outside Beijing.
Then, early in the twentieth century, motorized draglines, bulldozers, and trucks be-
gan to bring down the price of grading, beginning with major public works projects and
strip mines. After World War II, the increased size of the mechanical equipment further
reduced the costs and time required for extensive grading.
In the late 1940s, earth grading was greatly expanded to include the building of
roads, urban and suburban building complexes, and the post-war housing explosion. It
became less expensive to modify the shape of the land than to fit the building’s founda-
tions to the natural morphology of the site.
Mass grading revised the age-old techniques for dealing with foundation construc-
tion, compaction, drainage, and water retention. These new techniques were primarily
the domain of engineers and builders. Only a small group of landscape architects and
landscape designers recognized the aesthetic potential for shaping the land. Engineer-
ing, mapping, and design techniques were generally limited to abstract geometric forms
Foreword 9
Peter Walker, November 17,
2005 during his lecture to the
Landscape Architecture Degree
Program at the University of
Applied Sciences Rapperswil.
and straight, linear transitions. Design was limited to the balance of cut and fill. Often
the visualization of the graded form was restricted to a series of cross sections that only
depicted cut and fill. Soil analysis was generally limited to gauging porosity and com-
paction potentials. Occasionally, organic topsoil was stripped off the graded site (to be
replaced later), but usually this was done to remove soil that was difficult or impossible
to compact to levels that would support foundations or building slabs.
Landscape architects from the late eighteenth century onward have worked with a
system of contours displayed on a plan that enabled trained eyes to visualize the shap-
ing of the land, not only to accommodate land uses, but to produce three-dimensional
forms of aesthetic importance. Landscape architects made models to visualize the three-
dimensional results.
In the 1970s, the public became aware of environmental concerns, such as water
use and retention, and the protection of wetlands and aquifers. At first, issues surround-
ing erosion and habitat triggered a negative public reaction to all grading. Then, over
the next generation, as scientific knowledge increased in soil science, hydrology, erosion
control, planting strategies, and rebuilding of habitat, it became possible for landscape
architects to design grading and planting concepts both on the regional scale and for spe-
cific sites. This has opened up a great new opportunity for shaping an environment that
is conducive to human requirements—and also for repairing the damage that resulted
from the unsophisticated earth grading and strip mining that was prevalent through
most of the twentieth century.
The last fifty years have seen a massive increase in the space allocated to automobile
parking. If roads are included, this driving-parking combination comprises almost half
of all “designed” land uses. Parking largely requires flat surfaces, and, hence, dominates
grading and drainage practice. Considering the modern demands of sustainable water
10
