North Texas Dirt Works

Landscaping a Slope

Landscaping a slope may not be as difficult or awkward as you think. I have often heard people say “I have this terrible slope in my yard and I don't know what to do?”

You should view a slope as a natural opportunity to turn a plain yard into something extraordinary.

Like you, I have also read articles on landscaping a slope and enjoy the variety of different perspectives.

They all have valuable information for their readers, and it allowed us to focus on something different and unique for ours.

A flat yard can actually be more challenging to design than a sloped yard, because landscapers and designers have to “force the site”. Rock gardens, waterfalls, garden beds, retaining walls, and other features can be blended into a sloped yard naturally.

I used to get excited when I arrived at a clients house to see some contour to the yard. I could quickly visualize an extravagant yard with natural stone walls, garden beds, and yes, don't forget the waterfall.

This wasn't a good thing, as I had not yet even found out what their budget would be. (It's always so much easier spending other people's money.)
When landscaping a slope, working with a good designer may be worth your while. They can take your ideas, and blend them with their experience and expertise to come up with something that is functional, practical, and beautiful. They can also help you to work within your budget.

Getting Ideas

Picture ideas are a great place to start. You can browse through our own photo gallery, or you can check us out on pinterest. There we have over 16,000 pictures in over 90+ different landscaping categories. We have a link at the top of the page for Pinterest.

After you have some ideas in your head, check out our other helpful articles like, Landscaping Planning.

This is full of great tips on things that you will encounter before you begin any project. It points out issues like, underground utilities and lines, access to water or irrigation, dealing with permits, and working with existing levels and drainage.

We refer to this article as “thinking like a landscaper”, these are things that may even require you to modify your landscape plan or design, so it is important that you aware of these things before you begin. They are quick reads that can save you hundreds, or thousands of dollars.

If you require a more basic understanding of design concepts, you can visit our article on back yard landscaping. This is a great beginner article for understanding the concepts of design.

So let's get into a little more meat and gravy about landscaping a slope.

Special construction considerations with landscaping a slope with retaining walls

When using retaining walls in slope landscaping, you may require an engineers stamped approved plan. (This depends on the height of your wall.) This usually applies to walls four feet in height or over, but can vary from one city to another.

You should check on all by-laws and construction related permits before you perform any work in your yard. Some cities and towns have some pretty restrictive laws, and it is up to you to find out what they are.

Special materials like "Geogrid" are commonly used with engineered retaining walls.

Some cites may not require an engineered plan, but could still require a permit for building a retaining wall. This is becoming more common as cities don't want to miss out on what improvements you are making to your property. I can only imagine this is quickly passed off to the assessment office.

For those of you with steeper slopes we recommend using the services of a professional landscape contractor.

This is due to understanding certain forces of nature. Soil and water both exert pressure against walls that can cause them to fail, and heavy surface water can cause erosion or slides. Proper procedures must be followed in the construction stage.

Some of the different forces are:

Hydrostatic pressure which (in the simplest form), is the pressure exerted from a fluid due to gravity. (Drain tiles should be installed to deal with this.)

Frost heave is the complex series of events that results from freezing and expansion of water. It is a little more complicated than most people think, and once again water control is essential.

Soil creep, or downhill creep is the ability for soil and rocks to move down slopes in relation to friction, and gravity over time. Although this is a slow process that you will rarely see, you will see the long term effects.

Slide planes are created below the surface when heavy amounts of moisture accumulate.

This moisture can create a slippery film that will eventually give way to the weight above it causing a "gravity slide", or as most of you are aware of "landslide". (This often happens where water hits a clay surface and can't permeate the soil any further.)

Sodding a steep slope may not be the most practical choice.

You don't need to fully understand the technical information behind each of these forces. (I don't, and probably never will.) You do need to understand they exist, and the steeper the slope, higher the wall, or more water you are dealing with, the more you will require the services of an expert or the use of a stabilization fabric.

Choose plants or trees with deep and extensive root systems to interlock with each other at different levels in the soil. This will create a more stable bank by preventing soil creep.

Soil stabilizing can be done many ways by using both mechanical and chemical stabilizers. Anchors, nails, geogrids, nets, etc... are some of the ways you can stabilize soil on a steep slope.

On wet slopes, moisture loving plants will help stabilize the bank by taking up excessive moisture.

With the above in mind, you still need to know that anything you add to the slope such as large boulders, rocks, and even large trees will also add weight. The best way to add heavy features like this is to dig small ledges to place them on.

Everything must be planned and placed carefully, and must work with drainage. If you don't control the drainage, you can actually add to the problem instead of helping it. (You don't want water to wash out the root system of a large tree or other plants.)

Proper drainage is important

Water actually acts as a binding agent in small amounts. A great example would be building a wet sand castle compared to a dry one, but balance is the key.

Excessively heavy amounts will have the complete reverse effect of a binding agent like in mountain landslides. With landscaping a slope, water control is very important in avoiding surface erosion and hidden slide planes.

Dry arid regions present a different challenge. Slopes usually don't hold moisture very well, so finding plants that require little or no water is important if you haven't installed irrigation.

When landscaping a slope in the desert you still may have to implement water control for heavy rains. They may not be as frequent, but can still cause damage. Rock gardens set in gravel beds, and dry creek beds are great ways to control water during times of heavy rain.

Make sure you can maintain what you design.

When landscaping a slope, it may be difficult to mow or maintain. Grass may not be a practical ground cover unless you have good irrigation. Grassy slopes often dry up, and burn very easily in the hot summer months.

More landscaping a slope options

There are a few different ways to make hillside landscaping more functional. One way is to use retaining walls which will create level areas or terraces above the wall. Terracing is simply using more than one retaining wall to create a series of levels. You can incorporate stairs to access and maintain each level.

We talked about walls over a certain height may have by-laws or building codes requiring them to be engineered. You can avoid having one large engineered wall by terracing, but make sure you know the required distance of how far apart each wall will have to be. Most cities will have a building requirement for this as well.

Terracing has been used by many ancient civilizations to make hillside/mountainside farming productive. From Italy and China, to the Inca's of Peru, they have all employed this method with great success.

Rock Gardens

Another effective way to work with landscaping hills is by a building a nice rock garden. This is one of the most attractive, affordable, and easy ways to deal with slopes. It is also within the scope of most do-it-yourselfers.

There are some drought tolerant ornamental grasses that make great additions to rock gardens and slope landscaping.

Landscaping a slope also means you are going to have to be able to access what you install. Try adding a set of stairs or a pathway to safely navigate the area. If the slope is large enough, consider a series of switchbacks made of gravel pathways.

Using landscape fabric on slopes

I have used landscape fabric on some pretty steep slopes, but there are a few things to consider when you do.

If you are using landscape fabric when landscaping a slope, make sure you carve the slope before you install the fabric. Dig in “shelves” or small terraces in the dirt for larger rocks to sit on before you install the fabric. These rocks will be more stable, and act as an anchor point.

Secure the fabric with landscape fabric pins, and lay the fabric to overlap in the downhill direction. This is better for drainage, and much easier to work on it with materials. Use gravity to your advantage and dump the materials on the fabric from the high side of the slope. (They are easier to slide or rake down than up.)

Always have a plan to control heavy amounts of water where they enter the slope, how they react on the slope, and where they leave the slope at the bottom. Shape or grade the slope appropriately to accept channels for dry river beds on top of the fabric.

Landscape fabric can create water "runoff" robbing the plants in the hill of moisture depending on the type of fabric you use . You may have to install irrigation for your hillside plants, or a filter cloth type fabric barrier around them.

Sometimes a combination of landscape fabrics can be used. Oxygen and moisture will not pe*****te into the soil around your plants with woven polypropylene like it will with filter cloth. Use filter cloth around the drip zone of your plants.

So to emphasize the more important things when landscaping a slope:

Be positive and enthusiastic about having a slope to work with. Be imaginative and create something unique.
Be aware of the forces of nature and only tackle a job you are qualified for or feel you can do effectively. (Leave the rest to professionals.) Be aware of construction by-laws in your area before you begin with retaining walls.
Design the slope to be practical and functional and make sure you can access and maintain the area.
Select plants/trees/shrubs carefully for their root systems as well as their ability to handle drought in dry climates.
Have an effective plan to control water above, and below the surface.

Landscaping Planning
Let's take a look at what many think is a relatively simple task. (Sodding a yard). We can take a look at it with, and without proper planning. This will give you a better perspective on what goes on in this industry. Just like any other industry, there are good people doing great work, and there are unqualified people doing poor work.

With proper planning:

Existing soil conditions, sunlight, drainage, slopes, swales, berms, weather, and other challenges are considered and accounted for. A good quality landscaping company will point all these things out to you. After all, they are only going to put a warranty on work that is done right.

A basic sodding job should have at least a minimum of 4 to 6 inches of quality loam. This makes for the basis of a beautiful deep rooting and thriving lawn. This lawn will resist weeds, droughts, require less chemical treatments, and fertilizers.

If your existing soil is extremely poor, you may have to amend it, or excavate and remove it. If this allows you to have the proper depth of high quality loam/topsoil, then do it. Spend the money now, or twice as much later.

Where you will sod is equally as important as the soil quality. Sodding under trees, heavily shaded areas, between or against houses, along driveways, are all challenging areas. Shade tolerant varieties can be used, but still require at least a couple of hours of sunlight/day.

Remember that proper Landscaping planning means you will have the "Eye" to recognize areas of concern. You may plan for alternative ground covers in these areas to be installed now.

Landscape fabric, rock or mulch beds, and edging are used with perennials, annuals, and trees can be used to make a beautiful and practical yard. Doing it properly now will save you from a battle that may even require you to have to do it over again.

Now you are thinking like a landscaper. You are able to see things before they happen, and plan accordingly.

Without proper landscaping planning:

Soil and sod is ordered, poorly graded, and only a thin layer of loam over a poor quality base (most often clay). Drainage is poor, and the lawn frequently has standing water. The sod looks great the first year, until the root system extends down through the thin layer of loam.

This situation happens far too often.

The second year, the roots struggle in the poor soil, and money is wasted on expensive chemicals and fertilizers (which will not help the situation).

The grass under trees, between houses, along the driveway, and other poor growth areas often need to be replaced with another ground cover.

Another problem is that every time one of these projects was redone, existing areas of the yard are often trampled by equipment thereby costing even more money in repairs.

Where does the idea of "landscaping planning" come from?

These are just a few of the things that keep landscape companies in business. We actually get the phone calls to come in and repair, rebuild, redo, or replace the things that could have been avoided with proper landscaping planning.

Customer B that didn't plan properly was bragging to his neighbour (Customer A) that it cost him $1,200 dollars to finish his yard, as opposed to Customer A who initially spent $1,800. The problem is, Customer B who planned poorly spent an additional $2,000 over the next five years to have the same yard as Customer A.

Do it right once the first time.

Hopefully, you can see the importance of landscaping planning and spending a little bit more up front in the preparation stages. Sometimes driving around and looking at other properties may help you with your own yard. You will be able to pick up on positive features in any yard as well as noticing poorly done work.

Professionally designed landscapes are also great to look at. There is a reason for almost everything that is done in the yard. You should now be able to pick out “why” something was done the way is was.

So here is a list of some of the things you should be looking for with almost any project in your yard. Always keep in mind that you will have to plan according to your budget. We can't think of everything, if there is something specific to your area that affects landscaping planning, your comments and your experiences are certainly welcome. We would love to add them and help others as well.

Many of these tips can be found in most design courses or books. It is important for do-it-yourselfers that are not using any design courses, books, or software, to be aware of all these things before they put a design in their head or on paper.

Existing levels of soil and features - Starting with the big picture. Get an overall view of the property's current ground levels against houses, patios, driveways, fence lines and other features. This will help you plan for proper drainage.
Upkeep - Make sure that whatever you design is going to be something that you can maintain. Don't plan out two acres of grass if you are never home to mow it. If you have a lawn and garden that requires a lot of water, make sure that you have irrigation installed if you can't be there to move a sprinkler around. Make sure that the design coincides with the amount of effort you will be able to put out to keep it looking great.
Sun/shade - View the property at various times of day so you can plan for growth prosperity of lawns, plants, and trees. Even most shade varieties of grass require a few hours of sunlight per day.
Water - Access to an adequate water source may cause you to modify plant, grass and tree selections.
Utilities - This is a very important part of landscaping planning, especially when excavation is required. Always have utilities marked before you begin any work. You may have to change or modify a design that requires excavation because of this.
Permits and By-laws - This is often overlooked, even by experienced landscapers. If you are planning a yard with a fire pit, make sure you know the regulations from your local government office or fire chief. Many towns or cities require them to be a certain distance from decks, fences, trees, and houses. (Some have them banned altogether.)Fire pit regulations may also require a certain amount of gravel or rocks underneath the project as a sub-base.

Building a retaining wall is another great example for do-it-yourselfers. Most cities or towns require a permit and an engineer's stamped, approved plan for walls over four feet in height. It is your responsibility to check on this. I have heard of some towns requiring a permit for walls as low as two or three feet high. The safest way to cover yourself, is to call your local by-law or building permit office and tell them what you are building, They will tell you if you need a permit or not. (I prefer to email people as well, so there is something I can save as a paper backup on file.)
Traffic Patterns - Think practical. Pathways, fences, shrubs and garden beds should be planned to control the flow of traffic the way you want it to move.
Soil - Starting with good soil is the key to growing success. Landscaping planning starts with a good foundation and basic building block for your lawn or gardens. The time and cost to start over, far outweighs the initial cost of proper preparation.
Weather - Heavy winds can affect certain trees and plants. Heavy rains and water flow may require you to add berms, swales or even dry creek beds into your design. Heavy accumulation of snow and ice can affect grass and plants as well. Salt, grease, oil, and road grime can kill growth down the edge of a driveway.
Access - Access is often overlooked as well. How will construction equipment be able to access your yard? Will you have to take down fences? Do you have overhead power lines that may impede the operation of equipment? Will existing lawns or features need to repaired from heavy traffic damage?

Always plan construction in a sequence that allows you not to disturb completed work. With new yards, hardscaping almost always comes first, but this theory may have to be modified on occasion. Planting large trees should be considered part of hardscaping if heavy equipment is needed to lift and transport a tree with a heavy root ball. (You don't want to end up driving over a newly laid walkway with equipment just to plant a tree)
Co-ordinate materials effectively. - Planning how long, and where to store materials can also save some grief. It can also coincide with accessibility to move around your yard with equipment. Having to move piles of materials more than once should be avoided at all costs. It is time consuming work. Try to store materials on tarps to make cleaning up a little easier. Lastly, It helps to be present at time of delivery to make sure materials are dropped where they should be. If you can't be there, mark an "X" or put a tarp down where you want things dropped. (Make sure you communicate this to the delivery company).
Sub-contractor communication - If you are paving a driveway, installing a fence, building a deck, pouring concrete, installing irrigation, or having anything else done by someone else, make sure you work with them not against them.
The unforeseen - The unforeseen is also something that some of the best planners in the world have difficulty dealing with when it happens. It is exactly what it says, unforeseen. Be prepared to come across hidden issues with any project. The "Murphy's Law" of landscaping. An example of this would be large buried materials. I have uncovered large pieces of granite that were like icebergs, (the more digging you do, the bigger it gets).

Keep in mind that even the best designs and engineering plans require modifications from time-to-time. Don't be discouraged, this is normal. Accept it and move on. Be thankful that it was caught in the landscaping planning stages and not afterwards. Consider it an opportunity for improvement.

So, before you put your design on paper, take the time to think about these landscaping planning considerations. This should have you a little more armed for the design stage.

If you wish to design your own yard, there are some great landscape design software programs available on the internet. Like much of the high tech world, the software has come a long way and the prices are much more affordable.

Beautiful gardening ideas can be explored at www.gardeningwithjulie.com

We are sure you will come up with other considerations on your own as well.

A final thought, if you are planning on incorporating gardens into your new landscape, here is a nice, informative perspective on
Garden Style.

We hope you have found this information useful. Please pay it forward so others will benefit from it as well.

All the best of luck with your project.

www.gardeningwithjulie.com

TRANSLATING THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: A Chinese Garden In East Tennessee
Cultural landscapes are valuable representations of humans’ interaction with nature. These world heritage sites should be protected since they are illustrations of the evolution of human society and settlement over time. However, many of the traditional ones are losing their impact under current physical constraints that are presented by their natural environments, or social, economic, and cultural forces. Based on today’s modern context of efficiency and simplicity, the vanishing legacy of these sites should be interpreted by extracting the essence rooted in the culture and translating it into distinctive but concise characteristics that can be used in modern landscape design. The Chinese garden referred to in this paper is an example for analyzing the essence accumulated throughout history. At the The University of Tennessee’s International House, by designing a simplified Chinese garden with translated features base on the identities that are elaborated in this thesis, a place is created for the preservation and spread of culture, as well as benefit and appreciation for all visitors. In this way, these translated cultural landscapes will not only stand as a symbol on their own, but also serve people from all backgrounds and therefore add valuable benefits and diversities to the existing landscape.

At Dark M**O last week, the City of Hobart joined forces with the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) to commission New York artist/ landscape architect Vito Acconci to create an architectural prototype for bridging connections between previously discrete aspects of Hobart.

Representatives from the Brooklyn-based Acconci Studio were introduced to six sites. They elected to address ways of connecting Hobart’s city centre to Queens Domain, a large urban park containing 200 hectares including Government House, the Botanical Gardens and significant aboriginal sites – as well as the Hobart Cenotaph (the state’s war memorial) and the Soldiers Memorial Avenue, which have been disconnected by major highways (below).

Acconci Studio’s scheme is more a provocation than a proposal; it’s an idea about an idea for a “bridge” which is not necessarily intended to be built. Still, it can help us understand how to connect places in a city in a manner that transcends a purely pragmatic economic engineering solution.
The changing face of Hobart

In a place that has endured ongoing economic recession, where change has been generally been understood as negative or reductive, the locals can be very resistant to new ideas – even when they may lead to exciting new opportunities.

This has been the case in Tasmania, which has been in a recession since apple exports fell dramatically in the 1970s and other industries of hydro, mining and forestry declined in production and/or employment.

But in the year 2000 the tide began to change. A shift in the property markets occurred as interstate investors began to realise you could buy a house in Tasmania for less than the price of an outhouse in a suburban backyard on the mainland. “Economic refugees” began to arrive in droves. They had turned the tide on ongoing outward migration by 2003.

An influx of people has led to an increase in opportunities – and the state is beginning to find ways to imagine a new future via strategic initiatives for arts and culture. Over the last five years MONA has been transforming the life of the city.

Two years before the museum opened in 2011, MONA launched the inaugural Festival of Music and Art (MONA FOMA, or M**O for short). Since then MONA has been showing the city how it can be transformed into a place of vibrant life, bolstering tourism while providing a fantastic series of cultural events for the locals.

The City of Hobart capitalised on the positive response to M**O, developing a strategic initiative for arts and culture, Creative Hobart, which highlights the potential for the city as a “platform for cultural expression and creative participation”.

This included commissioning Acconci Studio to provide speculative ideas for the city.
So, how does Acconci’s proposal stack up?

Acconci’s design proposition is based on the aspiration to “free or liberate persons”, creating multiple choices through walkways leading in different directions. This provides a matrix of discovery in which, according to design notes, the lines of history “wind and wave, you can’t see them all at once but you know they’re there”.

The mesh-like bridge (below) provides a labyrinthine crucible that takes people across the highway. It is complemented by a structured landscape of lights and trees that arc around the cenotaph, providing a contrast to its linear formality.

Acconci’s project is an enticement to think laterally about pragmatic issues of city design. This is beautifully described in a poem by Maria Acconci, which suggests a direct poetic connection between the Cenotaph and the bridge and highlights ideas of memory and experience.

Unfortunately, the main way that the public was able to access these ideas was via a public forum and exhibition presented during Dark M**O last week. Both of these options offered an abstract and obtuse introduction to the project – and failed to communicate the potential of Acconci’s proposal or provide an understanding of his approach or previous work.

On reflection, one wonders if it’s necessary to build a physical bridge over the road. In reality this would alter the approach into the city, as the dimension of a bridge needed to span the six-lane highway would create a large structure that would mask the broad landscape vista towards Mt Wellington, a key characteristic of the approach to the city.

Perhaps the basket-like structure could take form on an adjacent site, spanning between the Domain and the nearby aquatic centre, providing a lookout back towards the Cenotaph. This would highlight the connections made by the lines of light and trees inscribed within the Cenotaph site.

The physical connection between the Domain and the Cenotaph could be made on the ground, linking under the highway in a manner that extends the picturesque movement that currently characterises the site.

It’s not clear how far this project has been developed in terms of the formal commissioning. Currently Acconci Studio’s project is just the beginning, a thread of an idea. It could take many forms or simply act to inspire broader conceptual approaches to understanding how to shape the city in a way that celebrates place, both from the past and present, as well as into the future.

Energy suppliers often refer to their industry as being caught in a “trilemma”, as people demand electricity that is both secure and cheap, while also being clean.

But maybe it’s time to add a fourth consideration to the list – beauty.

Just as we marvel at Roman aqueducts or Victorian railways, so we could design power plants, solar panels, turbines and other infrastructure to be beautiful additions to the landscape. As we move away from ugly coal and gas, we have a great chance to celebrate low carbon energy with imaginative new designs.

UK energy minister Amber Rudd seems to agree. Speaking last year about nuclear energy, she stated: “I think it is a reasonable ambition to make sure that these big projects have aesthetic appeal as well [as being functional] to help win the public over.”

Yet there are two problems to look out for. First, it is unreasonable to merely mask controversial or potentially environmentally damaging developments with a veneer of “attractiveness”. Managing public opinion with pretty designs does not supplant other valid concerns such as the choice of location or huge construction costs.

Second, even where “beautiful” design is sought as part of an environmentally responsible scheme, how individuals define and perceive “beauty” will certainly be a highly variable affair. One person’s majestic wind turbine is another person’s imposing eyesore. Like any type of architecture, judgements about beauty will depend on highly personal preferences, and how the new design relates to its existing context.
Big infrastructure demands bold designs

The quest to find an appropriate aesthetic when designing novel infrastructure is not new. When the Victorians built the UK’s railway system a century and a half ago, the scale of this new technology and the visual and environmental changes it brought to urban and rural landscapes alike were immense – and hotly debated.

Engineers and architects designed large viaducts and impressive stations to be beautiful as well as functional. Though their alien structures were decried by some as ugly impositions, with time those same buildings have come to be part of the cherished character of British landscapes.

In the 1950s, nuclear power once again called for unprecedentedly large and unusual buildings. At Trawsfynydd in Wales, the leading designers of their time took up the challenge. Architect Sir Basil Spence and landscape architect Dame Sylvia Crowe designed a nuclear power station in a bold modernist style.

Although decades have passed and the plant has been decommissioned, opinions about its aesthetic value continue to be divided; some praise the architecture as “optimistic, triumphant [and] pioneering” while others would be happy to see the building completely disappear.
Modernist masterpiece or concrete calamity? Jim Killock, CC BY-SA
Good design can add to the landscape

We need innovative and sensitive design ideas for new energy systems, not just to “win over” the public but to actually improve the environment. Recent examples of well considered and multifunctional energy landscapes do exist.

At Georgswerder Energy Hill in the German city of Hamburg, large wind turbines stand proudly atop an artificial mountain of landfill in a post-industrial area. Purified groundwater onsite is captured and used for energy, and the sunny side of the mountain is graced by solar panels. Visitors learn about renewable energy at a visitor centre before walking up to an elegant public “horizon line” walkway that encircles the mountain and gives expansive views of the city beyond.
View from the hill. Alexander Svensson, CC BY

In Norway, the Øvre Forsland hydroelectric power station similarly aims to be educative, to reflect the local context, and to unapologetically attract attention.

One interesting example on the drawing board is the proposed Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay. The power station consists of a large artificial lagoon formed by a sea wall, with water allowed in and out through underwater electricity turbines. Electricity is harvested from the difference between low and high tides.
Don’t book your holiday just yet – building work hasn’t started. Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay

The plans include space for walkers and cyclists along the top of the sea walls, and an iconic, ark-shaped offshore visitor centre (pictured above, by Juice Architects) on the far side of the lagoon. Landscape architects LDA have already received the highest accolade in their field – the Presidents’ Medal – for creatively developing a scheme which “puts place-making at its heart and seeks to integrate a major renewable energy project into the lives of local people”.
Celebrate change through design

Given the grim consequences of climate change and the political stakes associated with generating energy, the question of aesthetics may seem trivial. Investments in renewables obviously need to be based on more than just appearances.

However, as society quickly transitions to better sources of energy, designers are embracing the opportunity to reflect and celebrate the change. Seeing how big power plants, as well as hugely important small-scale community initiatives, can fit within the landscapes that people use and enjoy is a real challenge.

There will probably never be a power plant or solar panel that everyone deems beautiful. But debating beauty and design alongside function is vital to achieve better renewable energy developments.