A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas

Must see Architecture and Design in Bentonville, Arkansas

• Visit Bentonville • Season 9 • Episode 3

Share episode

Did you know that the Walton Design Excellence Program promotes the highest level of design and belonging in Northwest Arkansas? This week you'll find out all of the projects, how to throw your hat in the ring, on and some favorite Bentonville architectural moments including these Design Excellence Projects:

Thaden School
Helen Walton Children's Enrichment Center
Quilt of Parks
Crystal Bridges Museum x Amazeum Convergence
8th Street Gateway Park

Learn more about the Walton Design Excellence Program here: www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/grants/northwest-arkansas-design-excellence

A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.

You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.

Beth Bobbitt:

Welcome to A New American Town presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm your host, Beth Bobbitt, and today we're excited to highlight the fabulous design and architecture scene here in Bentonville with one of the experts, Meredith Bergstrom. Meredith is the Senior Program Officer for Home Region at Walton Family Foundation and you're very much uniquely qualified for this. You have a background in urban planning and design in Miami. Welcome to the podcast. First of all, thanks so much for being here. Yes, thank you for having me. I'm excited. Yeah, and we want to kind of set the table here. Walton Family Foundation has some core, just pillars home region, education, environment. You serve the home region, is that correct? Yes, that's right. So talk a little bit about that work and your role and kind of what led you here.

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yeah, so, like you said, I'm a program officer at the Walton Family Foundation. I've been here almost six years and I get to work on two portfolios of grant making, and it's really around what something we call regional affordability, which is the intersection of housing and transportation, and then something we call inclusive shared spaces and experiences, which is really about parks and public spaces, and it is a real privilege parks and public spaces and it is a real privilege. I have been in the area on and off since, let me think, 2010. And so I've seen the region grow so much and it's been so wonderful to be a part of so many different organizations through this work and supporting various initiatives throughout Northwest Arkansas.

Beth Bobbitt:

So let's talk about the goals for the Design Excellence Program. It's funding these projects that inspire community connections. Can you talk a little bit more about?

Meredith Bergstrom:

the vision. Yes, so it's a great time to be talking about this, because we're actually in year 10 of the Design Excellence Program. It was originally founded to elevate the quality of design throughout Northwest Arkansas public buildings and public spaces, and so it has always really been about people-centered design, keeping the end in mind, and really its goal is to strengthen public life, to ensure that people have places to go outside work, outside the places that they live, that they can meet with friends or meet new friends and spend time, build a sense of belonging and ownership in their community. So we know that that is an increasingly important thing within every community, and the program has now supported 20 projects throughout Northwest Arkansas in various stages of design, development, construction or completion and programming. These are places that everyone will likely know if they've been here Places like Thaden School in Bentonville, but also Theater Squared, really beautiful public parks in our downtown areas, Memorial Park in Siloam Springs, but also Railyard Park in Rogers and some really exciting park developments in Bentonville, which we'll talk about.

Beth Bobbitt:

Hey there, stick around. We've got special highlights from Meredith about her favorite architecture spots in Bentonville and the vision for our future at the end of the episode you won't want to miss how Walton Family Foundation is going to continue to build Bentonville with people-centric design. So what everybody wants to hear about the projects themselves. And people may see these buildings or experience these buildings and not know that it's a design excellent project Thaden Quilt of Parks. What are some of your favorites that you'd like to highlight that are in Bentonville?

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yes, well, I think actually Helen Walton Children's Enrichment Center is one of the first projects that was supported and just even getting to tour that. It's such a special place. It's amazing to see the way that that program can apply to so many different contexts. Of course, Thaden School is also so beautiful and it's amazing to see the application of design principles in an educational space. But some of the projects that are coming up are really my favorite, which I know we'll dive into a little bit more. Yeah, let's jump in. Well, great.

Meredith Bergstrom:

So I think anybody who's been in Bentonville at all recently will know that there is a lot of construction going on, and so right now part of something that was called Quilt of Parks, which was really this idea of connecting public spaces throughout Bentonville, really focusing on downtown as a public park space, there is right now the A Street Promenade is under construction. A portion of that is complete right in front of the courtyard. That design is really hearkening to the Buffalo River and so much of what's beautiful about natural areas throughout Northwest Arkansas and our broader region. So you see sort of recollections of that in the design, the way it meanders through the space much like a creek, spaces to pause and reflect, but also lots of plazas and spaces for activation. So I think it's really exciting to see that coming on board and that will be anchored by a new playground, with a reimagined Dave Peel playground, and so I think once that's all complete, it's just going to be a really wonderful place for families and any individuals to come at any time of day and enjoy downtown.

Beth Bobbitt:

Yeah, wow, I don't think I realized the connection with the Buffalo River, that's fascinating.

Meredith Bergstrom:

It's been fun to get to talk with some of the designers and follow that process. Yeah, and if you can, can you talk about the designers or artists or firms that are involved in that? Yeah, absolutely so. Design Workshop, who has been working on the A Street Promenade and the Quilt of Parks. So they've been engaged with the city of Bentonville throughout that process and you know they really started with this idea of, like, what do we want this space to be? And I think that's a theme that's really important to pull out through the Design Excellence Program. When we get involved in supporting a project, it's really about helping people connect to what are the end goals.

Meredith Bergstrom:

When somebody comes to this space, what is it that you hope that they'll experience? Project is ultimately about people. You can end up, I think, with design that really speaks to that and centers that experience throughout the process. That's so exciting. And what's the timeline on that? You know that is a great question and the city website is probably the best place to get updates, but I know that the A Street Promenade will complete this year.

Beth Bobbitt:

Right, so exciting. Well, stay tuned for that. So when we talk about the you know level of participation, just a few highlights 70 architecture and landscape firms have been involved, so from New York to Denver and of course we have some local superstars Marlon Blackwell architects Talk a little bit about the importance of just diversity of thought and design in that mix.

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yes, so when the program was originally founded, there was really, I think, a great precedent in a couple other design excellence programs, one based in Columbus, Ohio, and so from the beginning we've had this amazing selection committee. Who it's?

Meredith Bergstrom:

it's the chairman is dean peter mckeith from the university of arkansas and then, uh, really, professionals that have terms, but they're, you know, really well known in their fields architecture, landscape architecture, urban design from throughout the country. And so when firms apply to participate in the program, they go through a very rigorous selection process, and our selection committee is looking at, like you mentioned, a lot of diversity in terms of thought, experience, discipline, also the size of the firm, the types of experience they bring, because when they become a part of the program, we are then pairing people once we find a project, and pairing people once we find a project. So if we're interested in supporting a project through the Design Excellence Program, we take it then to the Design Excellence Selection Committee. They'll choose a short list of firms five or six and present that list to the grantee, who then can ultimately choose who they want to work with. And so it's really important that we have a robust list of firms in the pool who can be matched with any potential project that might come up.

Meredith Bergstrom:

Right, smart and after 10 years you know that list is long yeah, and I should say we actually are just about to announce a new list of firms that are joining as of 2025, and we'll start a new five-year term, because the firms in the pool are there for five years or until they're selected for a project, okay, okay, well, that is helpful.

Beth Bobbitt:

Talk a little bit about you know how you apply, kind of the application process or the resources available.

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yeah, well, there's kind of two application processes. So for firms that are interested in participating in the pool, we announce when we're opening a request for qualifications. We typically do that every year, or once there's a list of firms that are rolling off and we want to replenish the pool. Or last year we actually did a special round where we were formally adding master planning and urban planning as a discipline within the program. So we did a special call for firms. And then, of course, there's projects that want to be supported by the Design Excellence Program. And that's something that's so lovely about being a program officer here, doing place-based work within our philanthropy, because as program officers we live and work here, so we are connected to the community and hopefully able to hear any ideas that people might have or work with potential grantees on. Yes, that is a great fit for the program and we'd love to move forward with our application process Right, makes sense Well, and so you mentioned.

Beth Bobbitt:

There's no current projects or open calls. But you know, give us a little while there might be soon.

Meredith Bergstrom:

Exactly.

Beth Bobbitt:

Yeah, Okay, Well, we'll stay tuned for that. Yeah, and just, you know, a couple of reflection wrap up questions here. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about how meaningful design, particularly in a place like Bittenville that's, you know, really focused on cultivating the arts, culinary and creating this like sense of belonging how important is that design to foster all of that?

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yes, I think it's critical, one of the things that really drew me to city planning when I first started getting involved in thinking about that as a career. Every place that I've lived or visited is the way it is because somebody made a decision right, or a series of somebody's made a lot of decisions.

Meredith Bergstrom:

They put it in city ordinances, right, somebody has to put a sidewalk here or somebody needs to build this way, and so our experience of place is incredible, is every day influenced by design decisions. And I think you know, particularly in a place like Northwest Arkansas, which is growing so rapidly, we know that we're likely to double in population by 2050. You know that's essentially building a whole, nother Northwest Arkansas and we. So it's amazing that we're growing and we can choose how we grow, and so those design decisions are what are going to determine future access to for everyone, right to our parks and public spaces, to housing that they can afford. I really do think that design influences all of those decisions. So we're excited to be able to continue to engage in really people focused design, supporting design initiatives that start with really robust community engagement and then continue that as a through line. I think that's really key.

Beth Bobbitt:

Yeah, I think we're really lucky to be in a place that is so intentional about that and really focused on providing those resources and making those connections and connecting projects and firms and places. So thank you for all of that. So fun question. Let's talk a little bit about you personally, your favorite architecture design moment in Bentonville and it could be a view, it could be a place. What do you think?

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yes. So I mean, as soon as I think about it it's funny because it's almost involuntary just like comes into my mind. It's that moment when I get to Crystal Bridges you know you've arrived either in a car or you're walking or biking and you're entering the museum and especially if you're coming from the top, you've seen the silver tree and then you kind of look out and you see this view of a green rooftop and trees and more art and natural space. It's just so inviting it makes you feel like curious about what's next you want to. So inviting, it makes you feel like curious about what's next you want to go in Like. To me that has always been just a really special architectural moment.

Beth Bobbitt:

Yeah, and I mean, as we've talked about, totally intentional. You know, moshe Safdie, of course the architect behind that wanted this subtlety as you're entering and then, like you said, when you're upon it, you can really see the breadth and the depth and you have that view of the entire campus.

Meredith Bergstrom:

So, yeah, and it's so grounded, like in its place in Northwest Arkansas, so you see the building and you also see the natural world. I think it's such a great representation of the interchange between those two environments. Yeah.

Beth Bobbitt:

Become. Very iconic, for sure, yes. Very iconic for sure, yes. So if you had a crystal ball and you're looking into it, what do you think you would see for Bentonville, related to urban planning or design? What's in store?

Meredith Bergstrom:

Yes, well, I will give my vision, and I think it's that in. I mean, I would love to imagine that in 10 years we are a place that is just hyper-connected for multimodalism, that people can choose to bike or walk, or take transit even, or drive to where they need to get, to go, and it's that connectivity that provides the landscape for all of these other important sort of design decisions. When it comes to buildings, I think that's been a real learning of ours from the program so far is that you know, it's one thing to build this beautiful place or a responsive place to local needs, it's another to make sure that people can really easily get there. So I think these design decisions that we're making have to be sort of in tandem from and connected to how people get to the places that they're going as well, as you know, really great destinations.

Beth Bobbitt:

Right. Yes, some logistics and transportation in there too as well, yeah, tell us how to learn more. Are there any resources newsletter, newsletter, website, social you want to?

Meredith Bergstrom:

yes, absolutely so. Please, uh, watch the walton family foundation website waltonfamilyfoundationorg. There's lots of updates about the design excellence program, but also all of our other work. Um, and then really, you know, we we support initiatives that are being accomplished by the city of bentonville and other non-profit organizations, so, especially when it comes to some of the projects that are underway right now, the City of Bentonville has a great website showcasing 8th Street Promenade, which we talked about, and some of the other designs for that, but also projects like 8th Street Gateway Park, which is going to be amazing, and so lots to come.

Beth Bobbitt:

Yeah, good teaser. We'll have to stay tuned for more. Thanks, Meredith, for spending some time with us. It was lovely chatting and look forward to hearing more about the Design Excellent program. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. As always, Visit Bentonville is here to help you navigate things to do, where to eat and stay and what's going on in our new American town. Give us a follow on social media, sign up for the newsletter and check out our website at visitbentonvillecom. Thanks for.