This image diagrams the evolution of form beginning with options for the first criteria of design: soil control. Options are found under categories including Terraces, Retaining Walls, Meshes, and Piles/Anchors. Secondary design considerations involve the ability to provide shelter.
Terraces perform well for water retention as well as agricultural purposes. They also provide a basis for a variety of design options, yet typically rely heavily on retaining walls and/or the existence of significant root structure. Other than providing the blank slate of small patches of flat ground, terraces provide little benefit to the secondary design considerations.
Retaining walls prove fruitless as they are susceptible to hydrological undermining and rely heavily on mechanical fasteners like anchors (which are further explored as isolated strategies).
Meshes, like terraces, prove excellent tools for the maintenance of terrain, development of plant life, and resistance to erosion. Also like terraces, meshes provide little benefit to the secondary design considerations of providing shelter, at least on the traditional scale. On a larger scale, meshes mimic the performance of piles/anchors.
The piles/anchors category seems to provide the most benefit for the integration of building systems into the category of soil retention. Piles also provide significant architectural opportunities.
Benefits include (but not limited to):
Erosion Control
Allowance of ground cover
Allowance of small landslides
Prevents flooding of occupied space
Deep foundation
Keeps people off of new growth
Elevation/introduction to canopy level
Feels like a treehouse
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