{"id":703506,"date":"2026-06-14T12:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T12:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/703506\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T12:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T12:14:32","slug":"big-designs-stem-focused-university-campus-in-arkansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/703506\/","title":{"rendered":"BIG designs \u201cSTEM-focused\u201d university campus in Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG<\/a>) is designing a campus in Bentonville<\/a>, Arkansas<\/a>, for a \u201cSTEM-focused university\u201d backed by the Walton family, of the Walmart dynasty. <\/p>\n

The Walton family said<\/a> it is establishing the not-for-profit university \u201cto prepare students to succeed in an era shaped by artificial intelligence and rapid technological change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polk Stanley Wilcox (PSW) will serve as the architect of record. PSW has offices in Little Rock and Fayetteville, Arkansas. It previously designed, with OSD, the new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine at Crystal Bridges<\/a>, another Walton-funded education project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new university campus will measure approximately 422,000 square feet and be built on the site of the former Walmart Home Office. The Waltons completed a new corporate headquarters for Walmart designed by Gensler and SWA<\/a> in 2025, opening up the plot for development.<\/p>\n

\"renderingA makerspace will house workshops, labs, common areas, and a flexible forum. (Courtesy BIG)
\n\"studentThe student residence will be organized around two large courtyards. (Courtesy BIG)<\/p>\n

Per the masterplan, the campus will have three buildings with naturally weathered, reddish facades and \u201cindustrial forms,\u201d BIG said in a statement. Greenspaces and public squares will be sited throughout the campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new STEM university in downtown Bentonville seeks to bridge the disconnect that often exists between academia and the working world around it,\u201d Bjarke Ingels<\/a> said in a statement. \u201cFor the new campus, we have sought to break down the boundaries between campus and community through a lively new integrated neighborhood for faculty and citizens alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

On site there will be an academic building, student residence, and makerspace aimed at \u201cpreparing students to succeed in an era shaped by artificial intelligence and rapid technological change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingels noted the \u201cmakerspace is conceived as an inhabited showcase, displaying a culture of physical experimentation and rapid prototyping to the passing citizens. It is our hope that this integration of the campus into the community will make higher education as accessible as possible, academically as well as socially.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"stem-focusedThe campus will occupy two city blocks. (Courtesy BIG)<\/p>\n

The academic building will have a vast open atrium and study, classroom, lab, and office spaces. Clerestories will wash this central space in natural light.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BIG affirmed the design is meant to evoke \u201cOzark vernacular architecture\u201d with its \u201cdogtrot breezeway\u201d and stacked-shape reminiscent of old log houses common in Northwest Arkansas.<\/p>\n

\"\"A network of greenspaces will be located in between buildings. (Courtesy BIG)<\/p>\n

The student residence building is, in plan, shaped like a figure-eight, BIG said. It has two elevated courtyards that sit atop a dining hall and shared amenity spaces. <\/p>\n

The building will be oriented so that one courtyard will have ample morning light, and the other will have generous afternoon light.<\/p>\n

The Waltons are aiming to welcome the university\u2019s first class of students in 2029. The family also said it will fully cover tuition in the initial year of operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is designing a campus in Bentonville, Arkansas, for a \u201cSTEM-focused university\u201d backed by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-703506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}