SPRINGDALE -- Walton Family Foundation on Tuesday announced the first three projects for a new program to encourage high-quality design of public spaces in Benton and Washington counties.
Plans for a new home for TheatreSquared will add a new building to downtown Fayetteville, said Karen Minkel, director of the foundation's Home Region Program. A second project will bring back a 1940s building for a new use as part of the Rogers Historical Museum in downtown Rogers.
Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program
• Started this year by the Walton Family Foundation
• Foundation will pay for all phases of design
• First three projects are for TheatreSquared, Rogers Historical Museum and Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center
Source: Walton Family Foundation
A new facility and half-acre playground for Helen R. Walton Children's Enrichment Center will add to a developing design corridor that includes Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Scott Family Amazeum, Minkel said.
The foundation is providing design services for each project as part of preserving and enhancing a sense of place in Northwest Arkansas, Minkel said. Old Main in Fayetteville and the Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista are iconic buildings that contribute to the region's identity.
"Design matters," Minkel said. "Not every project is going to be the Crystal Bridges in the region. The goal is to have design that enhances what we already have and helps our efforts in providing a wonderful quality of life and places that are walkable and interesting to pedestrians on the street."
The three projects were selected for the first year of the foundation's new Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, Minkel said.
TheatreSquared officials want to move from a 175-seat space rented in Nadine Baum Studios to a new 51,500-square-foot space in downtown Fayetteville, said Martin Miller, the theater company's executive director.
"I think that Crystal Bridges and the Amazeum and other significant recent projects have set a standard and expectation for this area," Miller said. "You shouldn't have to get on a plane to experience a level of art and architecture that you might experience in Chicago or Boston or other centers around the country."
The foundation recruited 76 architecture and landscape firms from 19 states, the District of Columbia and Canada that a Design Excellence Committee will review in October, Minkel said. The committee will pare the list of firms to a group of candidates for each of the three organizations to interview.
The three organizations will have control over the selection of the architect and the final design, Minkel said.
"Good design can be budget conscious," Minkel said. "All the designers accepted will have demonstrated a professional history of designing within budget."
The program was created to provide financial support to entities such as school districts; county, state or local municipalities; and nonprofit organizations that intend to develop space for public purposes. The foundation will pay for all phases of design work.
The Design Excellence Program is expected to support up to three projects each year.
TheatreSquared organized a 10-member task force at the beginning of the year to recommend a facility plan for the company, Miller said. The 175-seat theater it rents lacks support spaces for rehearsals, building sets and for offices.
"We've really loved the experience we've created in that space," Miller said. "We're at a place to go further."
The Walton foundation program gives TheatreSquared access to experts who will help the theater company find the best possible architect for its project, Miller said.
Miller hopes for the move to be within the next five years, he said. The design grant will be significant because design generally make up 20 percent of a building. The cost of the building will be determined during the design process, he said.
"We are a company of artists and architecture is an art," Miller said. "To be able to elevate the level of design in which Northwest Arkansas audiences will be experiencing our work is an incredible asset."
Rogers Historical Museum, operated within city government, plans an expansion from 15,500 square feet of operating space into a campus of more than 29,000 square feet of operating space, said John Burroughs, museum executive director.
The museum has an ongoing capital campaign to raise $5.5 million to $6 million for the project, he said. The Walton foundation has contributed $956,000.
A key part of the expansion will be the renovation of a 1947 building known for housing the former Newt Hailey Ford dealership, Burroughs said. The 14,270-square-foot building also was the former Rogers Morning News building. The city is in the process of purchasing the building from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for $729,900.
The museum's main exhibitions, offices and gifts shops will move to the Hailey building, and the museum will continue to have its Key Wing building and the Hawkins House for use, as well as renovated space in an old youth center.
The Design Excellence Program will amount to a grant of about $400,000 for design services and will provide fresh ideas for the project, Burroughs said.
"It's really going to get us thinking creatively about how these buildings can be used as public facilities," Burroughs said.
NW News on 09/23/2015