Bjarke Ingels Group to plan, design 422,000-square-foot university in Bentonville

The Walton family said Thursday (June 11) that Copenhagen, Denmark-based BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group has been selected to plan and design a new university for the site of the former Walmart Home Office at Southwest Eighth Street and South Walton Boulevard in Bentonville. A cost estimate was not disclosed.

Conceptual designs show three four- to five-story buildings on two city blocks with green spaces and public squares. The university’s three initial buildings comprise about 422,000 square feet and include an academic building, a student residence and a makerspace.

Tom Walton, Steuart Walton, and Alice Walton, through the Alice L. Walton Foundation, are supporting the creation of the university focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The university expects to welcome its first class of students in 2029 and to have tuition paid for “in its initial years of operation,” according to a news release. The nonprofit, business-infused university will embed artificial intelligence across its academic programs, teaching methods, and institutional operations.

“We’re eager to bring the vision of Bjarke Ingels Group to Bentonville to help us make this new university a reality,” Tom Walton said. “The master plan and building designs they have given us are bold, imaginative, and highly practical all at once. They will inspire our students and faculty while complementing Bentonville’s urban and natural landscape.”

Tom Walton and his brother Steuart Walton are the grandsons of Walmart founders Helen and Sam Walton and the sons of Jim Walton, chairman of Arvest Bank Group.

“Bjarke Ingels Group is making an important contribution to Bentonville’s growing collection of contemporary architecture and landscape design projects,” Alice Walton said. “Each has its own strong identity, but they all harmonize, showing that BIG and the other acclaimed architects working on these campuses understand that these designs need to have a sense of place of our region, and be welcoming to our community.”

Alice Walton is the only daughter of Walmart founders Sam and Helen Walton.

“The new STEM university in downtown Bentonville seeks to bridge the disconnect that often exists between academia and the working world around it,” said Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative director of BIG. “For 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. The makerspace 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.”

The makerspace will be home to various workshops, labs, common areas and flexible space. The happenings within will be visible from the street. It will also include campus amenities, offices, and spaces for student services.

The academic building will include study, classroom, lab and office spaces. The building will include an open central atrium, a dogtrot breezeway, and “stacking that nods to the log houses historically found throughout Northwest Arkansas,” the release shows.

The student residence building is organized as a figure-eight with two elevated courtyards atop a dining hall and amenity spaces. The buildings are designed to be flexible spaces. “As technology changes, so should the curriculum, and the university spaces are designed to be adaptable over time,” according to the news release.

“Reflecting Bentonville’s culture of warmth and openness, the university will serve as an inviting gateway for companies and enterprises to engage with students, co-create innovation pipelines, and build incubators that catalyze sustained economic impact,” said Dr. David Mazyck, president of the STEM University.

Arkansas-based Polk Stanley Wilcox is the architect of record for the project. The firm recently designed the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine on the Crystal Bridges Campus. Also, Polk Stanley Wilcox and the New York office of Bjarke Ingels Group were recently named part of the design team for a new 46,327-square-foot music venue adjacent to the Momentary in Bentonville. Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Live Nation Entertainment is working with the Momentary to open Bentonville Ballroom. Blueprint Studio, Live Nation’s in-house design and development group, is also a designer.

“We’re inspired to bring these designs to life, building cutting-edge STEM learning environments with a strong sense of place rooted in Bentonville’s landscape and community,” said architect Wesley Walls, principal with Polk Stanley Wilcox.

In May 2025, Tom Walton and Steuart Walton announced plans to establish a university at the former home office site, along with the mixed-use development. In February, Dr. David Mazyck was named the inaugural president.

In separate transactions this year, ABN Holdings LLC, owned by Tom Walton and Steuart Walton, acquired more than 1 million square feet of office buildings at the former home office and a site to the north for more than $93 million.

Runway Group, a diversified holding company based in Bentonville and led by Steuart Walton and Tom Walton, recently tore down two of those buildings and began site work for a mixed-use development with office, hotel, multifamily and retail components.