The Walton Family Foundation has begun recruiting architects and landscape designers for a new program that will provide design services for area projects with the goal of increasing the quality of landscape and architectural design.
The program will focus on public and nonprofit building projects in Washington and Benton counties, according to information about the initiative on the foundation's website. It is called the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program.
The foundation plans for the program to provide funding for design work for up to three projects a year, the website said. Entities such as school districts, municipalities and nonprofit organizations planning spaces for public are possible beneficiaries.
A news release posted Thursday by the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville included the only public comment the foundation was willing to give about the program, said Luis Gonzalez, senior communications officer for the home region program with the Walton Family Foundation.
The foundation began taking applications from firms July 29, and the process will continue through Sept. 16. Architects and landscape architects who want to apply must send a statement of intent by Aug. 31. The foundation plans to accept applications from local, national and international designers, according to the release.
A committee that includes Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at UA, will select firms to participate in the program. Other committee members are Victor Dover, principal-in-charge at Dover, Kohl & Partners in Miami; Elizabeth Meyer, professor and dean at the University of Virginia School of Architecture; Karen Minkel, home region program director for the foundation; and Cynthia Weese, founding principal of Weese Langley Weese Architects Ltd. in Chicago.
"One of the most important tasks our committee will have is ensuring architects, landscape architects and urban designers working within the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program understand our region," MacKeith said in the news release. "Our colleagues should be able to reflect and complement the strong place-based design qualities that characterize the region, from the vernacular to the modern."
A section on design principles for the program posted on the foundation's website identifies sustainability and "appeal to the human scale" as core values.
"Sustainability implies attention to the life cycle of the building, prioritization of infill and adaptive reuse projects, and energy efficiency," the section states. "Appeal to the human scale means that projects will invite pedestrians and have superior accessibility to all members of the public -- from children to the elderly."
Public officials were supportive of the program, though none knew details about it.
Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin said he thinks the program would benefit recipients of the design services. For municipalities, that would mean less in taxpayer dollars being used for a project, he said.
Mike Harvey, chief operating officer for the Northwest Arkansas Council, said Thursday that he was aware of the program but not familiar with details about it. He said it could help save beneficiaries money on projects.
Design work for projects isn't cheap, Harvey said. He said his best guess was that 10 to 15 percent of a project's cost is for design and engineering.
The program is inspired by a program managed by the Cummins Foundation, based in Columbus, Ind., according to the release. The Cummins Foundation is "the global giving arm of Cummins Inc.," according to the company's website. Among the company's work is the manufacture of diesel and natural gas engines.
An architecture program described on the company's website shows a list of past projects that includes schools, Columbus City Hall and fire stations.
Metro on 08/09/2015