Walton Foundation Selects Firms for NWA Design Program

The Walton Family Foundation selected 36 firms for its inaugural pool of designers for the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program.

The Wednesday announcement concludes a two-month nationwide search for designers who the foundation says will contribute to the future of the urban landscape in northwest Arkansas.

“We are extremely pleased with the level of talent exhibited by the architecture and landscape architecture designers chosen for the program’s first year,” Walton Family Foundation Home Region Program Director Karen Minkel said in a news release. “Our extensive review process, led by reputable industry professionals, will give our grantees access to high-caliber design that meets the needs of these public-use buildings and enhances Northwest Arkansas’ urban fabric.”

The Walton Family Foundation is funding the design of three northwest Arkansas building projects through its Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program.

The foundation, created by the family of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, said the program aims to provide “quality urban planning” and will “elevate architectural and landscape design” of buildings and spaces in Benton and Washington counties.

The 36 firms selected represent 13 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The list includes four Arkansas firms, 11 firms from the south-central region of the country, and eight firms ranked among top 300 in the nation, according to The Architectural Record 2015 rankings. 

The Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program finalists are: 

• Anmahian Winton Architects – Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Alta Planning and Design – Davidson, North Carolina
• Bing Thom Architects – Vancouver, British Columbia
• Brian Healy Architects – Somerville, Massachusetts
• Brininstool + Lynch – Chicago, Illinois
• David M. Schwarz Architects, Inc. – Washington, D.C.
• De Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop – Louisville, Kentucky
• Deborah Berke Partners – New York, New York
• DLAND Studio Architecture and Landscape Architecture – Brooklyn, New York
• Duvall Decker Architects – Jackson, Mississippi
• Ennead Architects – New York, New York
• Eskew+Dumez+Ripple – New Orleans, Louisiana
• Grimshaw – New York, New York
• GWWO, Inc./Architects – Baltimore, Maryland
• HBRA Architects – Chicago, Illinois
• HGA Architects and Engineers – Minneapolis, Minneapolis
• KieranTimberlake – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Lake-Flato – San Antonio, Texas
• Louise Braverman Architect – New York, New York
• LTL Architects – New York, New York
• Marlon Blackwell Architects – Fayetteville, Arkansas
• Martinez + Johnson Architecture – Washington, D.C.
• Marvel Architects – New York, New York
• Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle – Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Michael Van Valkenburgh Architects – Brooklyn, New York
• Modus Studio – Fayetteville, Arkansas
• Overland Partners – San Antonio, Texas
• Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects – Little Rock, Arkansas
• Rice+Lipka Architects – New York, New York
• Robert A.M. Stern Architects – New York, New York
• Robert Sharp Architects & John Montague Massengale – Fayetteville, Arkansas | New York, New York
• Schwartz/Silver Architects – Boston, Massachusetts
• Spackman Mossop Michaels – New Orleans, Louisiana
• Stoss Landscape Urbanism – Boston, Massachusetts
• Trahan Architects – New Orleans, Louisiana
• WXY Architecture + Urban Design – New York, New York

A selection committee will choose a smaller group of firms from the list for the three pilot projects announced in September.

Those projects include a new 51,500-SF performance arts space for TheatreSquared in downtown Fayetteville, a 28,000-SF adaptive reuse building for the Rogers Historical Museum in downtown Rogers and a new 35,000-SF facility and half-acre playground for the Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center in Bentonville.

Each grantee will independently select the final firm and design.

The companies selected for 2015 pool will remain in the program for five years or until they are selected for a project. The program will host an annual open-submission process that will likely happen in the fall of each year.