Arkansas firms among designers added to Walton Family Foundation program

The Walton Family Foundation recently added 45 design firms to its Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, according to a news release. The program now has 108 architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and planning firms.

Three of the 45 firms are Arkansas-based: Childers Architect in Bentonville, Ecological Design Group in Little Rock, and Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects in Fayetteville.

“By partnering with visionary architects, landscape architects, and urban designers, we aim to support ambitious projects that leave a lasting impact on the region’s future,” said Meredith Bergstrom, senior program officer at the Walton Family Foundation. “The Design Excellence Program is committed to creating welcoming public spaces that reflect local culture and foster a sense of belonging.”

The program accommodates design firms of all sizes, including area and nationwide multidisciplinary firms, smaller specialty firms, and new designers. A selection committee of industry leaders and foundation representatives chooses which professionals will be added to the program. If accepted, designers can participate for up to five years or until they are selected for a project.

Following are the program’s new design firms:
Agency Landscape + Planning, Cambridge, Mass.
Alterstudio Architecture, Austin, Texas
Annum Architects Inc., Boston
atelierjones, Seattle
Bestor Architecture, Los Angeles
BIG, Brooklyn, N.Y.
BLDGS, Atlanta
BVH Architecture, Lincoln, Neb.
Childers Architect, Bentonville
Clayton Korte, San Antonio
Ecological Design Group, Little Rock
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, Culver City, Calif.
El Dorado, Kansas City, Mo.
French 2D, Boston
Future Firm, Chicago
HILLWORKS: Landscape Architecture, Auburn, Ala.
Hood Design Studio, Oakland, Calif.
Howeler + Yoon Architecture, Boston
IwamotoScott Architecture, San Francisco
John Ronan Architects, Chicago
JSa / RHA, Seattle
kevin daly Architects, Los Angeles
Kieran Timberlake, Philadelphia
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, Los Angeles
Low Design, Austin, Texas
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Atlanta
MALL – STAYNER ARCHITECTS, Portland, Ore.
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Alexandria, Va.
MOS Architects, New York City
MPdL Studio, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Multistudio Inc., Phoenix
MUTUO, Los Angeles
Patterhn Ives, St. Louis
Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, Fayetteville
Shigeru Ban Architects, New York City
SO-IL, Brooklyn, N.Y.
STIMSON, Cambridge, Mass.
Studio Barnes LLC, Miami
Studio Gang, Chicago
Studio Outside, Dallas
Studio Zewde, New York City
Surface 678, P.A., Durham, N.C.
Terrain Work, New York City
Ultramoderne, Berkeley, Calif.

Since its inception in 2015, the Design Excellence Program has provided $28 million to support designing 20 projects for community gathering spaces and buildings throughout the area.

The release notes that the program “promotes the highest level of design in the development of future public buildings and spaces in Benton and Washington counties. The selection of its design professionals, projects, and program success is guided by four key principles: commitment to strengthening public life, elevating standards of sustainability and resilience, celebrating local cultures and places, and building regional capacity.”

After a project has been selected through the program for a grant award, the selection committee recommends firms for the project grantee to consider.

Last year, the foundation announced that the three newest projects to be awarded comprise planning, architecture, and landscape architecture projects. These include a campus master plan for NorthWest Arkansas Community College, the Razorback Greenway corridor plan, and the Bentonville Public Schools downtown campus master plan.

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