Aidan Nowell - 2025 Portfolio

AIDAN NOWELL 2025 PORTFOLIO

About Me Hello! My name is Aidan Nowell and I am an aspiring landscape architect born and raised in Denver, Colorado.

I want to contribute to a more sustainable interaction between humans and the landscapes we inhabit and hope to someday design landscapes that will impart lasting value for future generations. I’m interested in gaining experience with a diversity of design projects, teams, and strategies.

I strive to be a Swiss army knife in the work environment, developing mastery of all areas of landscape architecture. I believe that being proficient at sketching concepts is just as important as catching errors in construction documents before they go out the door. Opportunities to learn something new always excite me.

I bring positive energy and optimism to the office and maintain a calm demeanor even under the pressure of big deadlines. As a team member, I communicate well and am highly coachable and adaptable.

In addition to my passion for landscape architecture I enjoying creating, performing and teaching music, playing chess, walking my dog, and backpacking and skiing in the Rocky Mountains.

Certificates & Awards Accredited Green Roof Professional (GRP) Awarded July 2024 2024 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities PREP Fellow Awarded December 2023 Museum of Outdoor Art 2023-24 Design & Build Competition Winner - 1st Place Awarded August 2024

Education

Skills

Master of Landscape Architecture University of Colorado, Denver, expected graduation May 2025 Sigma Lambda Alpha Honors Society Member Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems University of California, Davis, June 2019 Dean’s List 2018

Landscape Designer Landscape Design Intern

Denver, CO Aug 2024 - Present

Emerging Professionals Committee Member

Denver, CO Jan 2025 - Present

• Take part in committee meetings • Advocate for emerging practitioners in the industry • Help organize and strategize committee-sponsored programming

CU Denver Teaching Assistant Landform Manipulation History for Landscape Architecture

President Vice President

Class Representative

Aug 2024 - Dec 2024

Denver, CO May 2024 - Present May 2023 - May 2024

Freelance

Sketching

Bluebeam

Microsoft Office

Rhino

Land FX

SketchUp

Oct 2022 - May 2023

• Elected to the ASLA Student Chapter board as President, previously elected as Vice President and Class Representative • Served as interim treasurer from Jan - Mar 2024, helped solve finance crisis • Responsibilities include oversight of ASLA Student Chapter affairs, continuation of organization operations, events, and resources, and relationship building with ASLA CO/WY Chapter

Piano Performer and Educator

Premier Pro

Denver, CO Jan 2025 - Present

• Aid in the planning and administration of successful lessons • Help teach course content to other students, coaching them through the semester • Grade assignments, evaluating quality and character of student work

CU Denver ASLA Student Chapter

Illustrator

May 2023 - Aug 2024

• Produce drawings from schematic diagrams to construction details, communicating design intent and possibilities with visual clarity • Provide creative and technical solutions to problems across various scales • Ensure successful communication with coworkers, consultants, and clients to hit deadlines and efficiently execute project visions

ASLA CO/WY

Photoshop

InDesign

Experience Norris Design

AutoCAD

Denver, CO Oct 2019 - Present

• Teach musical principles, piano technique, and creative skills to students • Perform jazz and classical music at clubs, restaurants, and weddings, engaging with audience and providing entertainment • Compose, improvise, practice, produce and record music, employing the creative process to communicate musical thoughts and emotions

Lumion

ArcGIS Pro

Model Building

Veras

Contents

Listen to the Moon Land Art I Celestial Architecture I Acoustic Design

Resilient Roots Community Garden Urban Agriculture I Trauma-Informed Design I Green Roof

Port Gibson Water Quality Plan Green Infrastructure I Material Reuse I Planting Design

Mestizo-Curtis Park Civic Design I Historic Celebration I Site Analysis

Fort Collins Wildlife Alliance Visitor Center Indoor/Outdoor Connection I Architectural Design I Pedestrian Circulation

01 02 03 04 05

2023-2024 Museum of Outdoor Arts Design and Build Competition Winner - 1st Place

THANK

YOU

FOR

LISTENING

Museum of Outdoor Arts 2024 Design and Build Competition Land Art: Celestial Architecture

EN

LI ST

TO THE MOO N

Low Tides

INSTALLATION

Lunar Gravitational Pull

ROAD/TRAIL PARKING

High Tides

01

Listen to the Moon Onetahua, New Zealand

Listen to the Moon was a project awarded the first place prize in the 2024 Museum of Outdoor Art Design Competition on the topic of Land Art and Celestial Architecture. I collaborated with Stevie Pearlman, a fellow student in the CU Denver Landscape Architecture Program and also a bandmate, to leverage our shared musical language and knowledge.

The installation features a glass chamber which visually indicates the tidal patterns generated by the lunar orbit and allows one to aurally experience them through a set of acoustic pipes that register the rise and fall of the tidal level below, producing a changing tonal chorus. The installation is situated on a coastal bluff in New Zealand that offers phenomenal panoramic views of the night sky. A concrete formed with local rock material was used in three distinct pours with different levels of aggregate exposure. The closer to the ocean, the coarser the aggregate, meant to honor the erosive effect of the waves. The whole construction process was outlined and a cost study was completed to ensure feasibility.

Click here to view the winning submission

Celestial Architecture

Land Art

Acoustic Design

Listen to the Moon - Onetahua, NZ Celestial Architecture I Land Art I Acoustic Design

COMPOUND

SECTION

Water Storage Tank + Pump

~2OO’ Section Break

Coastal Bluff

3. Pitch Modulation

2. Water Level Modulation 1. Water Level Detection & Transmission

Sea Level

Tidal Gauge Buoy

^ This compound section diagrams the connection between the tides and the installation.

Railing & Support Posts Iron

Support Cables Steel Wire

Clappers Copper

Acoustic Pipes Galvanized Steel

Crescent Chamber Tempered Glass

Bench Top Totara Wood

Bench Bottom Aluminum

Concrete 1 Coarse Exposed Aggregate

Concrete 2 Moderate Exposed Aggregate Concrete 3 Fine Exposed Aggregate

^ Materiality plays a key role in both the durability and interpretive appeal of the art.

C5 523.25 Hz

G4 391.99 Hz

G4 391.99 Hz

D4 293.66 Hz Bb3 233.08 Hz F3 174.61 Hz Bb2 116.54 Hz

D4 293.66 Hz HARMONIC CONNECTIONS (LOW TIDE)

Bb3 233.08 Hz F3 174.61 Hz Bb2 116.54 Hz

Acoustic pipe lengths were carefully calculated to produce a chorus of tones based on the harmonic series of overtones.

The intervalic relationships are fixed, so the network of tones changes in parallel unison.

^

C5 523.25 Hz

Listen to the Moon - Onetahua, NZ Celestial Architecture I Land Art I Acoustic Design

Full Moon Celebration

Waxing Gibbous Night Hike

Waning Gibbous Storytelling Circle

First Quarter Moon Drum Circle

Third Quarter Moon Art Workshop

Waning Crescent Lunar Potluck

Waxing Crescent Celestial Yoga New Moon Meditation

sample events calendar tied to the lunar cycle serves as a jumping off point for ^ Acommunity interaction with the installation.

^ Simple diagramming was a crucial part of our concept development.

Listen to the Moon - Onetahua, NZ Celestial Architecture I Land Art I Acoustic Design

2.5” Support Railing

Galvanized Steel Pipe Inner Pipe & Steel Wire Cables

4’ 5”

1’ 4”

Steel Frame Projected High Tide (2050, ~10” Rise) Current High Tide

2’ 3”

Crescent Glass Water Chamber

Projected Low Tide (2050, ~10” Rise) Current Low Tide 4”

Rubber Gasket

Foundational Concrete Slab

ACOUSTIC

5”

MODULATION

DETAIL

of the acoustic pipes allows for hidden connection of water from the ^ Construction storage tank to the glass chamber and provides opportunity for interpretive scoring such as ocean level rise projections.

Listen to the Moon - Onetahua, NZ Celestial Architecture I Land Art I Acoustic Design

Since a key component of this proposal is auditory, I’ve created an audio rendering of what the installation would sound like. Click the link or scan the QR code to view a video that features the sounds of the installation: https://youtu.be/oRkV2BjRSmE

Rose Medical Center

Lindsley Park

Hal

e Pa

rkw ay

m er Cl

Single Family Residential

on tS t

12 th Ave

Multi-Family Residential

02

Resilient Roots Community Garden Denver, CO

The aim of this design was to create a community teaching/learning garden for people recovering from substance-use disorder. Programmatically, the design features a food forest, in-ground bed space, raised planters, a chicken coop, shed, greenhouse, wash station, and a small plaza with a shade structure. It also includes a building that houses an educational kitchen and multi-purpose room, topped with a green roof.

I enjoyed the design challenges of laying out a productive community agricultural operation in an urban setting. Tying into the adjacencies, including a recreational park, drove the organization of pedestrian and vehicular pathways. Designing for a traumatized target user group meant building in opportunity for individual agency, comfort, and community. The end product should be both a peaceful oasis and a humming center of productivity. Utilization of green infrastructure on the formal side of the area offsets the negative impacts of impervious pavement used for the plaza and building.

Urban Agriculture

Trauma-Informed Design

Green Roof

Resilient Roots Community Garden - Denver, CO

Food Forest

2

Ground Beds

3

Raised Beds

4

Chicken Coop

5

Garden Shed

6

Greenhouse

7

Compost

8

Main Building

9

Wash Station & Rain Garden

10

Plaza

^

The site design was organized on an axial gradient from wild to formal.

0’

15’

30’

HALE PARK

1

WAY

Urban Agriculture I Trauma-Informed Design I Green Roof

1

2

WILD FOOD FOREST

GROUND BEDS

7

9

6 5

8

10

3

12th AVE

4

FORMAL RAISED BEDS

GARDEN STRUCTURES + GATEWAY

BUILDING + PAVILLION

MARKET PLAZA

Resilient Roots Community Garden - Denver, CO Urban Agriculture I Trauma-Informed Design I Green Roof TOP TIER HEX -4” HEIGHT -3” WOODEN SLATS ON TOP -PARTIAL LIGHT PASS-THROUGH

MID TIER HEX -9” HEIGHT -EXTENSIVE SEDUM ROOF MODULES -NO LIGHT PASS-THROUGH

LOW TIER HEX -4” HEIGHT -FULL LIGHT PASS-THROUGH

SUPPORT TRUNKS

^ Variable levels of light permeability in the different tiers give the structure a dappled shade effect.

PIPE FLOW SURFACE FLOW GREEN ROOF FLOW

AREA DRAIN

DETENTION SERIES GREEN ROOF

DOWNSPOUT

MAIN DETENTION

green roof surface area on the building and shade structure slow down flow and pre-filter ^ Extensive water as it passes along. Stormwater runs through a sequence of small detention areas to increase

overall detention capacity and bio-filtration. The whole system works with the grading to bring water to the main detention area.

bayou overlook platform

constructed wetland cell

reclaimed wood boardwalk

Port Gibson Water Quality Plan Port Gibson, MS

03

After traveling to Port Gibson, a rural town in Mississippi facing immense challenges, I chose to put effort into design solutions that harness green infrastructure to boost the quality of life for its citizens. Leaning into abandonment with a managed retreat strategy offers a fresh take on resilience, allowing for the regenerative power of decay and rewilding to redefine what rural landscapes can be.

This approach embraces change as an opportunity for creative renewal rather than fighting against the tide, focusing on sustainable infrastructure to mitigate climate risks and promoting a redefined, positive rural identity. It acknowledges that revitalization doesn’t have to mimic urban ideals but can instead honor the unique strengths and evolving identities of rural spaces, transforming abandonment into a platform for growth, resilience, and reimagined rural futures.

Green Infrastructure

Material Reuse

Planting Design

Port Gibson Water Quality Plan - Port Gibson, MS Green Infrastructure I Material Reuse I Planting Design

bottle tree art sculpture

vegetative water filtration zone

fountain feature

18” re

frame wall coarse media

main bed media

hydraulic retention carrying capacity (gallons/day) time (days)

water level

influent flow impermeable layer

effluent

1

6,712,456

2

3,356,228

3

2,237,485

4

1,678,114

5

1,342,491

crushed debris fill

^ Subsurface flow wetland cell schematic detail with calculated carrying capacity of water treatment.

eclaimed stone seat wall

reclaimed wood boardwalks

selectively demolished building frame

Port Gibson Water Quality Plan - Port Gibson, MS Green Infrastructure I Material Reuse I Planting Design

structural layer backbone of form and height

seasonal theme layer visual interest through color and texture

groundcover layer dense, weed suppressing carpet

orderly frame selectively demolished building footprint

Ilex vomitoria ‘nana’ Thuja occidentalis ‘Holmstrup’ Rhaphiolepis indica Gardenia jasminoides ‘Radicans’

Panicum virgatum

Eutrochium fistulosum

Coreopsis lanceolata

Carex plantaginea

Packera aurea

Stemodia lanata

Asclepias incarnata

Iris virginica

plant communities embrace the dynamic, self-organizing nature of messy ecosystems, ^ Designed where species interact to create biodiverse, evolving plantings. Within this intentional wildness,

orderly frames—such as the frame of an abandoned building—provide structure, guiding the eye and offering contrast to the messy beauty of the plantings. This balance between control and spontaneity results in a plant community that imparts ecosystem benefits while communicating aesthetic intentionality and cues of care.

Port Gibson Water Quality Plan - Port Gibson, MS Green Infrastructure I Material Reuse I Planting Design

existing mississippi cultural crossroads mural

reclaimed wood boardwalks

vegetative water filtration zone

reclaimed impermeable roof membrane

reclaimed brick walk 18” reclaimed stone seat walls

crushed concrete drainage layer perforated drain pipe

04

Mestizo-Curtis Park Denver, CO

Mestizo-Curtis Park is a longtime Denver park that we were challenged to redesign.

In addition to geological, hydrological, social, traffic, and zoning studies, I enjoyed analyzing the energy expenditure of the site. The park is located in an area of the city with extensive musical history that I chose to honor in my design.

The framework of pathways on site is derived from the forms of the musical treble and bass clef symbols. A bandstand sculpture to be commissioned by a local artist was included and picnic tables on site include engraved QR codes that navigate users to educational pages about Denver jazz legends that used to live and work in the neighborhood. Sport courts were colored to reflect the color palette on the existing painted basketball court, a dog park was included to address community complaints about dog use in the park, and seating was added on the south end for adjacent food retail. The core components of a traditional civic park space were preserved: a great lawn with multi-purpose use, turfgrass space with plenty of shade trees, and a plaza with a shade structure and seating for gathering.

Civic Design

Historic Celebration

Site Analysis

Mestizo-Curtis Park - Denver, CO Civic Design I Historic Celebration I Site Analysis

^ A watercolor chloropleth map visualizing the energy expenditure of humans and vehicular traffic. ^

Energy expenditure modeled by arranging candles according to the density of human energy burn and placing fans inspired by German candle carousels in key locations. The fans spin at different speeds depending on how much heat is generated underneath, effectively indicating relative energy burn in different areas of the park.

Mestizo-Curtis Park - Denver, CO Civic Design I Historic Celebration I Site Analysis

1

Great Lawn

2

Plaza

3

Bandstand Sculpture

4

Picnic Grove

5

Play Area

6

Sport Courts

7

Dog Park

8

Social Bench Planters

9

Native Grass Berms

3OTH ST

CURTIS ST

3

1

8

^ A framework of pathways was developed from musical clef symbology, tying to the neighborhood history.

31ST ST

ARAPAHOE ST

6

5 4 7

2

32ND ST

9

CHAMPA ST

0’

50’

100’

Fort Collins Wildlife Alliance Visitor Center Fort Collins, CO

05

This was a component of a larger studio project completed for the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, an organization which rehabilitates injured birds of prey in Fort Collins, CO. The goal of this visitor center was to provide a space for arrival of visitors to the campus, educational and artistic exhibits, classes/lectures, and community events. The building is located to serve as a landing spot that connects to the rest of the site.

I designed the building itself, taking inspiration from the form of hawk wings for the roof. I designed the space for smooth pedestrian circulation, with a particular emphasis on creating a clear arrival sequence. Connections between the indoor and outdoors spaces was important. Fluidity between the main event/gathering space and the front and back patios was a focus, driving considerations of materiality, scale, sun exposure, and viewsheds. A modern aesthetic both in form and materiality serves to make the building focal and attract the eye. Views of the building from a nearby hiking trail ~300’ higher in elevation were studied.

Indoor/Outdoor Connection

Architectural Design

Pedestrian Circulation

Fort Collins Wildlife Alliance Visitor Center - Fort Collins, CO Indoor/Outdoor Connection I Architectural Design I Pedestrian Circulation

building design was developed around the core element of a wing^ This shaped awning.

7.5' 105'

53'

50'

60'

25'

CLASSROOM B 67'

CLASSROOM A

RESTROOMS KITCHEN GIFT SHOP

83' 20.5'

EXHIBIT SPACE

EVENT/FLEX SPACE

81'

4

R40'

LOBBY

40'

R27'

100'

26'

60'

48'

40'

1” = 60’ floor plan is designed to streamline back-end event operations, and to ^ The circulate exhibit visitors through the gift shop.

8 6 7 2

9

1

Enhanced Entryway

2

Main Entry & Lobby

3

Event Space Patio

4

Amphitheater

5

Boardwalk Entry

6

Back Patio

7

Exhibit Space

8

Classrooms

9

Event & Flex Space

1

3

5

0’

25’

50’

Fort Collins Wildlife Alliance Visitor Center - Fort Collins, CO Indoor/Outdoor Connection I Architectural Design I Pedestrian Circulation

1

2 3 4

5 NORTH

1” = 20’

1

Event Space Interior

2

Steel Winged Awning

3

Colored Concrete Patio

4

Crusher Fines Pad

5

Lyons Sandstone Steps

2

3 1

A small amphitheater provides a space where the client could gather with a group and display ambassador birds or give educational talks. When not in use, the amphitheater functions passively as integral seating, extending the effective space of the patio. Steps were designed into the backside as well to offer seating oriented towards expansive views. A vegetative buffer along the side creates a hide-and-reveal experience of arrival when approaching from the entryway.

5 4

0’

5’

10’

^

Fort Collins Wildlife Alliance Visitor Center - Fort Collins, CO Indoor/Outdoor Connection I Architectural Design I Pedestrian Circulation