Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) students Aidan Nowell and Stevie Pearlman won first place in the 2024 Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA) National Design and Build Competition. This year’s competition theme was “Land Art: Celestial Architecture.” Their project, Listen to the Moon, invites visitors to the Farewell Spit in the South Island of New Zealand, to reignite their connection with the Moon and its tidal influence on life on Earth.
Nowell and Pearlman were introduced to the MOA National Design and Build Competition in Professor and Associate Dean Ann Komara’s Spring 2024 landscape architecture studio. Prior to the semester, Komara organized a class vote to choose the Studio 3 project. Students were not only interested in exploring the land art movement, which is somewhat distinct from landscape architecture (Komara noted) but were also interested in submitting their work to a competition with a $10,000 grand prize.
Land Art: Celestial Architecture
“The brief also asked students to address a particular context attached to a landscape “type,” consider sustainability, environmental aspects, users and community, collaboration, and then provide a budget to build their work that did not exceed $100,000,” shared Komara. “This was the first MLA studio where students had to budget, which also required them to understand the grading and materials, the details, and the construction process. It was an excellent way to bring all of these ideas together, challenging the students to produce thoughtful, developed responses that merged art and landscape architecture.”
This year the MOA Competition brief, “Land Art: Celestial; Architecture,” prompted participants to design a land art or architectural installation “informed by a celestial body or bodies.” Aidan and Stevie chose a project site located on Onetahua, also known as Cape Farewell, on the northern tip of the southern island of New Zealand. The Māori (the Indigenous people of New Zealand) hold the Moon in high regard for its role as a celestial guardian and source of cultural wisdom, which furthered the project relevance and local connection.
“The word ‘celestial’ encompasses such a broad range of possibilities,” said Nowell, “but we were almost immediately drawn to the lunar realm – in particular, the tidal force that the Moon exerts on earth and its inhabitants.”
“The concept of translating tidal forces into sound so that one can ‘hear the Moon’ became our guiding star,” added Nowell, “and every other design decision along the way was made in service of that.
Music and the Moon
“Stevie and Aidan are good friends and are both talented landscape architecture students,” said Komara. “One of the things that connected them in this project is their shared love of jazz and their work together in a band; this informed their idea to “Listen to the Moon.” They aligned pretty quickly on some of their key conceptual ideas, and on the a coastal bluff site that allowed them to celebrate a connection with lunar tidal forces.”
Nowell and Pearlman met in the Denver East High School band room, Nowell on trombone and Pearlman on drums. Though they parted ways after high school, eight years later, in 2022, Nowell contacted Pearlman with an opportunity to join him and their former band teacher and Grammy-nominated saxophonist, Keith Oxman, for a gig. Since then, Nowell and Pearlman formed a jazz group called “Treeline Trio” with another East High alumni, Eli Acosta, and they play at various venues and events around Denver.
“Early in the semester, we were learning about and exploring how the Moon’s gravitational force has subtle to major influences on Earth’s ecology, human cycles and behavior,” shared Pearlman. “With a belief that there are inherent musical qualities to the universe, we knew we wanted to create some sort of installation that displays the Moon’s multifaceted influence on life on Earth in a way that visitors can hear.”
Listen to the Moon
In their project proposal, Nowell and Pearlman designed an installation of a glass chamber replicating tidal patterns generated by the lunar orbit, allowing an aural experience through a set of acoustic pipes that communicate the rise and fall of the tide below.
“This design aspires to reveal the influence of the Moon in a way that visitors can both see and hear,” wrote Nowell and Pearlman in their project proposal mission statement. “It is a multi-sensory experience intended to broaden our perspectives and understanding of our magical relationship with Earth’s celestial companion.”
To demonstrate the sound of the Moon, Nowell and Pearlman composed a rendering of actual sounds produced by the installation. Hear Listen to the Moon.
Defining Teamwork
In addition to the project’s thoughtful and informed presentation and creativity, the project’s success was largely owed to the collaboration that went into the final proposal.
“They each brought complementary strengths to the work, and I never had a desk crit with them where there wasn’t something new to consider as they advanced their work,” said Komara. “I loved Aidan’s models using pipes and water to demonstrate how the concept worked – how you could ‘hear the tides’. Stevie’s drawings and details and attention to the board and booklet layouts pulled it all together. Then, Aidan’s polished oral presentation skills drove in the video presentation required of the three finalists; CAP’s Jesse Kuroiwa helped him polish this crucial piece that clinched their win.”
This inherent collaboration between these two musicians and landscape architects set the stage for a showstopping presentation. “We approached things with both of our minds; one of us presenting an idea, the other receiving it, reacting authentically and putting it back so that our collective output was an inseparable blend of both of our ideas – much like playing jazz,” said Nowell. “I think the prior experience of playing jazz together helped provide a framework for our working relationship that allowed each of us to pursue inspiration and creative direction when it came in a dynamic that was supportive of the collective vision.”
Nowell and Pearlman also shared that the support of their professor and classmates contributed greatly to a successful final project. “This wouldn’t have been possible without Professor Ann Komara and the MLA students in our cohort,” said Nowell. “The entire journey was full of valuable feedback, support, and joy. Every single project that was produced during the studio was worthy of winning, and I think more credit deserves to go to the overall MLA group than to myself or Stevie.”