Heartland Whole Health Institute building to open May 1

The Heartland Whole Health Institute in Bentonville announced Monday (March 10) that its three-story, 85,000-square-foot building will open to the public on May 1. Philanthropist Alice Walton founded the institute in 2019.

The building was designed by Fayetteville-based Marlon Blackwell Architects and is located on the 134-acre campus with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, which will welcome its first students in July. A spokeswoman said the construction costs for the institute building are not available. About 150 staff will work there.

The Heartland Whole Health Institute works with the health care industry to develop “a whole-health approach that considers the needs of the whole person with the goal of preventing disease, improving health outcomes, and sustaining wellness,” according to a news release.

“This building embodies the key elements of whole health — integrating our physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being,” Walton said. “It’s surrounded by nature, with trails that invite exploration and is designed to bring people together to learn, engage, and connect. Marlon Blackwell Architects has created a landmark building that will welcome our community and beyond, enhancing the experience of visiting the Crystal Bridges campus.”

‘CONNECTION TO NATURE’
According to the release, the building was “inspired by the natural landscape of the Ozarks and features curvilinear forms that respond to the sense of place of the museum’s campus.” The region’s bluffs, caves, rivers, forests, and fields inspired the design. The building comprises weathered brass fins, glass, and stone cladding.

“Designed from the inside out and the outside in, Heartland Whole Health Institute is both a platform for and physical realization of the institute’s mission to move health beyond illness treatment and into wholistic well-being,” said Ati and Marlon Blackwell, founding partners of Marlon Blackwell Architects. “Its spaces, materials, and forms, drawn from the site’s karst topography and Ozark forests, enhance the connection to nature and place and create an atmosphere to nurture the whole self.”

The stone, known as giraffe stone, is a vernacular building method found throughout the region, and the weathered brass fins are akin to the hardwood forests in the Ozarks. The fins help mitigate the interior’s solar exposure and create “a spatial experience like that of walking through the forest on a fall day.”

BUILDING FEATURES
Visitors can enter the building via a dogtrot, a passageway that runs through the center of the building and opens to a lawn adjacent to a forest. The building will include an art gallery, café, and events spaces. The upper levels of the building are dedicated to offices for the institute and other nonprofits founded by Walton, including Art Bridges Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.

The institute’s initial exhibit, “The Art of Whole Health,” is curated by Crystal Bridges and features more than 25 works of art, including sculpture, paintings, and photographs.

The six-story, 800-space Crystal Bridges Campus Parking is a new parking deck for the museum campus. Marlon Blackwell Architects also designed it. The entrance drive is lined with native landscape that ties into an entry plaza and the adjacent forest. The parking deck includes a café and retail space on the ground level and an art and performance space, Sky Terrance, on the second level.

“The goal of Crystal Bridges Campus Parking was to transform a utilitarian feature into a welcoming entrance,” said lead designer Marlon Blackwell. “By including Sky Terrace performance and gathering space and a café, visitors can begin their day with friendly amenities that demonstrate the culture and character of a world-class destination.”

The release notes that the “visitors enter the parking area under a series of metal-clad fins along the south edge of the building, which are replicated on the north. The aqua azure metal panel color pays homage to a vintage car color … At dusk, the parking deck is activated by a constellation of color-changing LED lights at each level, mimicking the dance of fireflies and providing opportunities to create unique and ever-changing light scenes within the building.”

ADJACENT FACILITIES
Also on the campus, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine will open this year. The first class of students will start on July 14. Architect Wesley Walls of Little Rock-based Polk Stanley Wilcox is the designer. The school will offer a four-year medical degree program with a whole-person approach to care.

In 2026, Crystal Bridges is expected to open a 114,000-square-foot expansion that will increase the museum building by 50%. Safdie Architects is the designer. The new structures will comprise additional galleries, educational facilities, event spaces, a café, and new indoor and outdoor gathering areas.