Arin Chance Beaver (He/Him)
My work focuses on structure and materiality in a bid to to create interesting, organic and homogeneous spaces that sit comfortably within their external context. Through a reserved selection of materials, my work aims to celebrate each material’s natural qualities and create a readable structure. Taking inspiration from Nordic architects such as Sverre Fehn and Alvar Aalto, thresholds between the internal and external are given particular attention, with openings acting as both windows to the outside world and glimpses into internal spaces.
My creative process encompasses hand sketching, digital 3D modelling, physical modelling, CAD, and graphic design softwares. Sketching for me is the most important aspect in the design process and features throughout all of my projects as the dominant method of experimentation.
Sketchbook
Maryhill Urban Food Exchange
This proposal for The Maryhill Urban Food Exchange focuses on bridging the gap between the urban realm and nature and shifting agriculture from the fringes of the city into Glasgow’s urban fabric. The project consists of two buildings, the ‘hub’ and the ‘house,’ which facilitate food production, agricultural education, accommodation, and cooking courses. Inspired by Alvar Aalto’s Muuratsalo House, this project plays with roofscape, materiality, and form to frame the landscape around it and bring about a new perception of the city’s relationship to nature. Each building’s internal timber structure and trusswork is reflected externally through openings and facade studwork in order to convey an honesty and integrity in the building’s form – in a sense grasping for something that nature does so effortlessly. Natural and reusable materials, partnered with standardised material dimensions and design for dissasembly, also help to enforce this scheme’s commitment to working with (and for) nature.
The bridge between inside and out is this project’s main focal point, with the internal glulam structure’s reflection on the external leaf in the form of studwork, and openings created for both views out and views in framing the building’s structure and trusswork. Food production is encouraged both around and within the buildings with the inclusion of planters on the ramp railings and an internal greenhouse space within the residential building for personal growing. While the boundaries between inside and out are washed away, other polarities such as light and shadow, and soft and heavy are played with in the orientation, openings, and in the choice of materials. The design’s environmental concept is focused on designing to standardised measurements and employs a 1.2m grid allowing for standard board sizes to be easily placed between columns, and insulation fitted with minimal offcuts. The overall scheme steps down the slope of the site with only the residential building creating a sizeable excavation into the hill. The lower gabion facade helps to cement the building into to its context as if the lightweight timber facade is perched upon stone plinths.
