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Crinkle Crankle Wall

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Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#51

Post by jessriedel »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #48
jessriedel wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on this comment, I think the idea is that if you plant trees within the bend of a wall, they are shielded and heated from more than 180 degrees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21564553 You only get this benefit for tree right along the wall, which is not much agricultural area. Seems like a strained justification.

Fruit trees were commonly grown against purpose built walls. For flat walls trees would be trained to keep their branches in a plane.

Thanks. You're talking about espalier?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier

I could only find a single picture of something like this on a curved wall.

https://images.app.goo.gl/AXPFnXgE47K1vm5U7

If the tree is going to be pinned to the wall (as opposed to being free-standing and surrounded by the wall), I don't really understand how making it curved helps with absorbing heat or shielding from weather.

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#52

Post by brianberns »

geerlingguy wrote: post #8

I believe the oldest exterior wall of the St. Louis Zoo (on the north side, along where the 1904 World's Fair bird cage was relocated) was modeled after this style. I think it's more than one brick thick, though, so it probably wasn't done that way to save on brick, just to echo the style.

I don't think it's physically possible to make a wall like this that's more than one brick thick (without using an absurd amount of mortar).

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#53

Post by tejtm »

jessriedel wrote: post #34
Cytobit wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the shape of the wall affect either of these uses? Otherwise, wouldn't it be off-topic to start listing general facts about walls for agriculture?

Based on this comment, I think the idea is that if you plant trees within the bend of a wall, they are shielded and heated from more than 180 degrees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21564553 You only get this benefit for tree right along the wall, which is not much agricultural area. Seems like a strained justification.

During that little ice age mentioned elsewhere in these comments, that area right along the wall was your agricultural area so they came up with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#55

Post by [deleted] »

jhncls wrote: post #14

While this type of wall mainly exists in England and the Netherlands, it is amusing how the English Wikipedia's main arguments are about saving bricks and possible military advantages, while the Dutch Wikipedia tell these walls are meant to protect fruit from weather conditions. The fruit would typically be planted at the south side. One of the ideas is that the bricks both protect against wind and keep giving some w…

[deleted]

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#56

Post by Razengan »

jessriedel wrote: post #51
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fruit trees were commonly grown against purpose built walls. For flat walls trees would be trained to keep their branches in a plane.

Thanks. You're talking about espalier? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier I could only find a single picture of something like this on a curved wall. https://images.app.goo.gl/AXPFnXgE47K1vm5U7 If the tree is going to be pinned to the wall (as opposed to being free-standing and surrounded by the wall), I don't really understand how making it curved helps with absorbing heat or shielding from weather.

Slightly tangential, but having lived mostly in bare concrete jungles, there's something so aesthetically pleasing about green things growing on a backdrop of bricks or wood.

A soothing harmony of nature and artifice. :)

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#57

Post by whamlastxmas »

pottertheotter wrote: post #38
brianpgordon wrote: post #33

Funny-named type of wall? This reminds me of the ha-ha wall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha

I like this. My neighbor is a billionaire and I think I'll replace my fence with one of these so I can see his property better. It's very nice!

Wouldn't he just add a fence right at his property line if it bothered him at all?

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#58

Post by RickJWagner »

That's cool, especially the economy of bricks.

But I don't think it'd work well where I'm from. We have straight property lines, so you'd either have to convince your neighbor to go along with it or put it all on your side (leaving areas of grass over the fence where you couldn't mow it.)

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#59

Post by doctor_m »

Xophmeister wrote: post #4
doctor_m wrote: post #2

If only crinkle-crankle software were equally justifiable...

If we take the meaning of a "crinkle crankle structure" to be something like an "economically self-supporting structure", then it's justifiable by definition. The question then becomes: What, in the realm of software engineering, fits this description? Lisp, perhaps?

If crinkle-crankle walls protect fruit, then I suppose the analogous software might run on some Apple device that's unnecessarily expensive, technically lagging, and probably beautiful. Hard to justify economically, but still attractive.

Re: Crinkle Crankle Wall

#60

Post by thedaemon »

rhacker wrote: post #23
superhuzza wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually know the answer to this, as I used to live with an architect. This information may apply more specifically to Canada than other places. 1. It's not very good at insulating relative to other materials. 2. It's more labor intensive than other materials.

I have always suspect brick is superior for sound insulation, perhaps not weather though?

Wood is better for weather as it is flexible to allow expanding and shrinking. When you have such a hard material, such as brick, in a climate that changes from extreme hot & cold the bricks will crack and break due to stress from expanding and shrinking.
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