ROGERS -- Arkansas Arts Academy's middle school building will get a new look this year thanks to some help from local design and construction firms.
Mary Ley, the school's chief executive officer, said she wanted to change the building's front entry, which features castle-like towers framing an arch with the school's old name on it: Benton County School of the Arts. The name was changed last year.
School history
Benton County School of the Arts was founded as a kindergarten- through eighth-grade charter school in 2001. The Northwest Arkansas Academy of Fine Arts was launched as a high school in 2007. The two schools merged in 2009 taking the Benton County School of the Arts name. The school was renamed Arkansas Arts Academy on July 1, 2014.
Source: Staff report
Not only has the name changed, the decoration is better suited for a preschool than a middle school, Ley said. The structure also is starting to deteriorate, she said.
Marlon Blackwell, who along with his wife runs the Marlon Blackwell Architects firm in Fayetteville, met Ley before she became the school's chief last year. Blackwell, after some discussions with Ley about her vision, agreed to design the school's entry at no cost.
The firm chooses one project each year to do for free, usually for a nonprofit organization.
"I saw an opportunity to help the school from an educational standpoint and a design standpoint," Blackwell said. "It was a modest enough project. All we're trying to do is provide the school a new face."
The project involves tearing out the arched entry and replacing it with a large canopy that peels upward. The canopy's shape will resemble an A.
"It will give them a more dignified presence, because the nature of the school and its emphasis on the arts is much more refined and serious than what they have," Blackwell said.
In addition, the reception area immediately inside the building will be converted to a vestibule, providing an extra layer of security. Visitors will have to be "buzzed in" to get beyond the vestibule.
The academy's board on Monday unanimously approved a bid of $90,000 by SSI Design Build Constructors to do the work. The Fort Smith-based firm agreed to do the project at cost, said Ryan Bennet, co-owner and vice president.
SSI has teamed up with Blackwell's firm in the past to do certain projects to benefit the community at a cost those organizations can afford, Bennet said.
"Part of having a longstanding business is wanting to do something for the community," he said.
SSI has guaranteed the $90,000 cost, though some redesign will be necessary to meet that number, Bennet said. The project likely will be completed by the end of September. Work will be done mainly during "odd hours and weekends" to avoid jeopardizing the safety of the students and staff members, Bennet said.
The school would have had a hard time coming up with the money to do the project if not for the volunteer work and at-cost pledge of Blackwell's and Bennet's firms, Ley said.
Most of the money for the project will come from the school's operations, though Ley said she may use some grant money on it as well.
Arkansas Arts Academy is a charter school for grades kindergarten through 12. It operates two campuses in Rogers: one for the high school and one for the elementary and middle schools. Enrollment this fall is expected to be near or at capacity of 825 students.
The middle and elementary schools are housed in separate buildings on the same campus on South 12th Street. The middle school contains the main office for both the elementary and middle levels.
Blackwell has worked in architecture since 1980, including 23 years in Northwest Arkansas. He teaches architecture at the University of Arkansas.
His firm this year received the American Institute of Architects' Institute Honor Award for Interior Design for its work on the museum store at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.
NW News on 07/02/2015