[Greenbuilding] suggestions for outdoor wall?

[Philip Proefrock]

I've missed some of this discussion, so I may be off base here, but is this
really a situation where cars are in any way likely to come flying into the
playground on a regular basis such that heavy duty armor plating is needed
to protect the kids?  If that's the case, then the best solution would seem
to be not to put the two adjacent to one another at all.

I recognize I don't have the whole story here, but is a full wall really the
best solution here?  Building a wall to protect against such an extremely
unlikely event seems a misplaced priority to me.  I think materials and
effort could be much better spent on other things.  Rather than building a
wall with recycled material, sometimes the greenest solution is to not build
anything.  Plant trees or a hedge instead.  You'll have a nicer border that
way.  And vegetation will be a much better sound buffer than a hard surface,
like a wall.  Newly planted trees might not stop an oncoming car, but is
there really that much of a risk of that happening?  And you need much less
than a solid wall to keep the kids from inappropriately interacting with the
cars on the street.

If it's really a genuine concern, I'd think that a tall curb or a low
planter would be sufficient to stop (or at least seriously slow) a car in
the rare instance of a car going off the road.  And that would reduce the
amount of hardscape material you are using, while still providing some
definition to the edge.

Philip Proefrock

Luckenbach|Ziegelman Architects
255 E Liberty Suite 277
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734.997.9444
734.997.7004 Fax
PProefrock at LZArch.com