Construction honors the past

Adaptive reuse practices being used for The Momentary

NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF 
Matthew Cooper, executive chef, talks Saturday Nov. 9 2019 about the architecture of his restaurant, The Preacher's Son in downtown Bentonville. The building was once a church.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Matthew Cooper, executive chef, talks Saturday Nov. 9 2019 about the architecture of his restaurant, The Preacher's Son in downtown Bentonville. The building was once a church.

BENTONVILLE — Work to transform the former Kraft Foods plant into The Momentary contemporary arts venue continues to progress and pay homage to the past.

The Momentary is owned by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and is scheduled to open Feb. 22 in the Market District in the southeast area of downtown.

Work on the building includes new construction, such as a parking area and some glass on the exterior of the building, said Emily Neuman, The Momentary’s public relations manager.

Adaptive reuse practices are also a significant factor in creating an identity for the space, she said.

Adaptive reuse construction allows architects to change how a building is being used while maintaining what a space was originally built for, said Dylan Turk, Crystal Bridges’ special projects editor for architecture and design.

“That building’s been part of the community for 70 years,” said Calli Verkamp, the project architect with Chicago-based Wheeler Kerns Architects. “We wanted to preserve the physical building because that preserves the connection to the past and the community surrounding it.”

Using adaptive reuse principles is a national trend becoming popular for sustainability purposes, she said.

“We’re maintaining the use of all of the materials that were used to construct the building in the first place,” she said. “Instead of tearing down and starting from scratch, being able to reuse all of those materials and extend their life is a sustainable practice.”

Project managers began the process at the Momentary by looking at the building’s attributes and then considering what the best use of the space would be as it was designed, Verkamp said.

All of the main program spaces in the building are being built in existing spaces and much of the building’s original brick masonry, steel and concrete are being kept, she said.

“We’re clearly differentiating what has been added to the building versus what is being maintained and adaptively reused,” Verkamp said. “When we’re kind of adding onto the building with new spaces, we’re careful to do that in a way that’s contemporary and of our time.”

The Momentary offered a tour for 24 of its members Saturday to introduce participants to other buildings remodeled using adaptive reuse practices in the area.

The tour stopped at The Preacher’s Son restaurant and 8th Street Market in Bentonville and The 1907 building in Rogers. The 8th Street Market and The 1907 are both homes to several businesses, eateries and community spaces.

“They are really fantastic examples of how we can save buildings that have no apparent use right now,” Turk said.

The Preacher’s Son, 201 N.W. A St., was built in 1904 and was used as a church until 1979, said Matthew Cooper, executive chef.

The restaurant design is meant to be reminiscent of a tree, he said, with the dark brown wood of the building’s original rafter system resembling the trunk and its painted windows featuring images of tree branches, birds and butterflies painted by George Dombek, an artist from Goshen.

“There’s this amazing presence in here,” Cooper said. “It’s a truly magnificent thing.”

The 8th Street Market, 801 S.E. Eighth St., is the best example of how the industrial space in The Momentary will be used in support of adaptive reuse practices, Turk said.

“It was meant to produce and it was very factory driven,” he said of the former Tyson Foods plant. “Now it’s a place of education and food and play and drink and retail.”

The building makes use of large expanses of space, just as The Momentary will, Turk said.

“That creates amazing openness for a place such as The Holler, which has a shuffleboard court and food,” he said of the gathering space. “You could have built that space, but the utility of the industrial space lends itself to now modern design principles of openness.”

Using adaptive reuse principles is a trend that’s apt to continue for repurposing buildings, Verkamp said.

“There is a beauty and an artistry in looking at the things of the past, even if it’s scarred,” Turk said. “The patina of life, the things that happen to buildings, the things that happen in spaces, are beautiful. They teach us about who we are.”

The 1907

The 1907 building, 101 E. Walnut St. in Rogers, was originally built to be a Dollar Saver in 1907 and is now home to businesses such as Onyx Coffee Lab, The Foreman cocktail bar and Yeyo’s Mezcaleria and Taqueria restaurant.

The complete history of the building is available online at http://www.rogershistoricalmuseum.org/historic-dollar-saver-building.html.

Source: Rogers Historical Museum

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Dylan Turk (second from left), with The Momentary, points out Saturday Nov. 9 2019 the preserved original appearance of the exterior at the old Rogers Wholesale Grocery building in downtown Rogers. The 1907 building now houses Onyx Coffee Lab at 101 E. Walnut St.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Stained glass windows let in plenty of light on Saturday Nov. 9 2019 at The Preacher's Son restaurant in downtown Bentonville. The building was once a church.

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