125 W Melvina St Ste 1, Milwaukee, WI 53212 | 414.272.0242

Residential Living Retaining Wall, Bluff Trail, and Bluff Restoration

Residential Living Retaining Wall, Bluff Trail, and Bluff Restoration

The focus of this project was to stabilize and maintain the former UW-Milwaukee Chancellor’s residential lakeshore bluff, which had eroded to within 8 feet of the porch steps. Working with a geo-technical engineer, Marek Landscaping designed a solution that included a 15 foot high and 90 foot long Filtrexx Living Wall. The Filtrexx system consisted of lightweight geo-foam block back-fill material, soil anchors, and 3” galvanized pipe tied to layers of geo-grid wrapped around every two layers of Filtrexx Sock at the face of the wall. Native seed and restoration shrub plantings were used for slope stabilization.

In addition to stabilizing the bluff and creating the Living Wall, the team also built a trail down to the Lake Michigan beach and designed and installed a cantilevered deck at the top of the bluff.

The project received a 2015 Award of Merit in the Residential Category from the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Association of Landscape Architects (WI ASLA).