Northwest Arkansas Tops As a Design Destination

Northwest Arkansas is a beautiful place to live, not only due to its natural surroundings, but also in terms of its quality building design aesthetics.

The Arkansas chapter of the American Institute of Architects annually reviews projects designed by its Arkansas members. For 2008, the jury reviewed 28 projects, selecting 10 as finalists and five winners.

Out of the 28 projects, 12 were in Northwest Arkansas (see list below). Of the 10 finalists, eight were in this corner of the state, and three projects (two in Fayetteville and one in Gentry) were winners.

Prominent Fayetteville architect and University of Arkansas professor, Marlon Blackwell, worked on three of the Northwest Arkansas projects.

Many of these projects had been in the works for a year or two before the economic downturn. So it begs the question, will the recession hurt good design?

“I think it’s quite the contrary, because we have more reasonable pricing,” said Roger Boskus, whose work on Shogun Restaurant in Fayetteville landed Miller Boskus Lack Architects PA as a finalist in the design awards. “This is the best construction pricing I’ve seen in the last 5 to 10 years … I’m actually surprised by the lack of construction activity,” he said.

Many commodities have seen price cuts of 50 percent to as much as 75 percent, he said.

But instead of relying on expensive materials to bolster design, architects and clients are “very, very aware of energy conservation” he said.  

“Everything we’re doing is a green inspired type project,” Boskus said.

John Langham, an architect with Core Architects Inc. in Rogers, agreed.

“I think architects are having to be more intelligent with design,” Langham said.

Practical things like grouping plumbing, and concentrating on corridor widths and making efficient use of space can be very important to design and conservation.

Langham said, more than ever, clients are concerned about energy efficiency and environmental quality inside their buildings.

The new focus on the environment is helping design innovation, said Blackwell.

“People are thinking long term. People are saying ‘if I’m going to spend money on this I want it to be good,'” he said.  

“We’ve been doing our best to make the most out of the least for a long time,” said Blackwell. “We’re used to working with modest means, but even more so it emphasizes good design in bad times.”

“We haven’t seen people asking us for less design; we’ve seen less people,” he joked.  

Still, his private clients aren’t asking him to chop up a design to make it less expensive. Instead, many are simply waiting, he said.

For now, his firm is finding opportunities in the public sector, like the Gentry Library.

There’s a lot of good design in Northwest Arkansas because there is a greater degree of individuality in the area, Blackwell said.