Terraced Blue Rock Walls Below the House
by Eric Newman

When I saw pictures of Machu Picchu I thought it was beautiful, and maybe slightly mysterious.  From an engineering prospective, I loved the efficiency of transforming otherwise useless land into agricultural land.  I'm in awe of mankind's projects on such a grand scale.  In the years since, I've seen many more examples of slopes being terraced for agriculture, and the beauty that accompanies terraces.

The area immediately below our building site, over which we had a breathtaking view, was ugly and eroded.  It appeared that the erosion was caused many years ago before the subdivision roads were constructed.

The simple approach would have been to bring in some topsoil and plant ferns and ground cover.  That would eliminate the eyesore, but not produce any more usable land.  Building stairs would provide a method for walking to the lower lot and the future ohana (guest house).  There was enough area to create rock walls — Almost too much area.  It would take eight walls totaling 650 feet in length.

The terraced walls wouldn't be viewed from the side, only from the lanai (patio) looking down, and the lower clearing looking up.  Instead of level terraces, the terraces could be made at a 1:10 slope and save a lot of labor and material.  A 1:10 slope is fine to walk on and fine for agriculture.  The slope is also safer in heavy rains as the terraces wouldn't become as saturated and there would be less surcharge on the walls.  It would look the same when viewed from above, and you only see the blue rock walls when viewing from below.  After redesigning for the 1:10 slope, just six walls totaling slightly over 500 feet in length could be built below the house. 

In Maui, walls retaining three feet or less do not require a building permit.  Traditional Hawaiian rock walls are made of either light porous lava rock, or the dense blue rock.  The heavier blue rock walls make better retaining walls, and look better.

Fish Eye View of Terraced Walls and Taro

We hired Harrison Higa to build our rock walls.  I had Harrison build some planters and a drainage culvert to evaluate the quality of work before starting the big terraced wall project.  These test jobs looked good and while the house was still under construction, work on the rock walls began on in September, 2008.  One and a half walls and six months later, Harrison Higa was in a motorcycle accident on March 30, 2009 and died the following day at the age of 37.

Harrison's father refunded half the $3000 deposit for unstarted work, and I hired Harrison's worker Ricky to continue the walls.  Neighbors and the construction crew on the house watched the progress.  They'd ask how many walls would be built.  "I'll build till the money runs out," I'd reply.

After the six walls were built, ten truck loads of fill dirt were brought in to backfill the terraces, and then two truck loads of compost.

There are a lot of pictures, sketches, and videos, so please take a look below:

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Sayan, Bali

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Rice Terraces near Chiang Mai, Thailand

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Batad Rice Terraces of the Philippines

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Yunnan, China

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls LongJi Terrace, Guilin, China

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Mie Prefecture, Japan

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, Dazhai, China

Inspiration for Terraced Rock Walls Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu 360 degree Panorama Click for Panorama

My Terraced Rock Walls Maui

Section View of Terraced Rock Walls

Topographic Map of Terraced Rock Walls

Aerial View with Terraced Rock Walls Added

Panoramic Fish View of Terraced Walls

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Area Below House Grubbed for Terraced Walls

Trench for Top Terraced Wall Footing

Ricky Starting Top Terraced Blue Rock Wall

Blue Rocks On Top Terraced Wall

Stair Cut Out on Top Terraced Wall

First Terraced Blue Rock Wall

First Terraced Blue Rock Wall and Lanai

First Terraced Blue Rock Wall Stairway Cut Out

First Two Blue Rock Terraced Walls

First Two Blue Rock Terraced Walls

Main Lanai and Terraced Walls From Below

Terraced Walls Being Backfilled

First Two Terraced Walls Backfilled

Footing for Third Terraced Wall

Third Terraced Wall Complete

Sixth and Final Terraced Wall Complete

Six Terraced Walls Viewed from Below

Ricky Working on North End of Third Terraced Wall

Terraced Walls Viewed from Below

Terraced Walls with Stairs Viewed from Below

Three Erics on Terraced Walls Panorama

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Second Blue Rock Wall

Second Wall Wide Angle

Blue Rock Walls Backfilled

Third Blue Rock Wall

Six Terraced Walls From Below

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Sketch of Terraced Rock Walls

Sketch of Stairs in Terraced Rock Walls

Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment.
-Rumi