Feature image above: Aerial overview with green roof looking west. Photography by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville recently welcomed its inaugural class of students to a new 154,000-square-foot medical education facility designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects and situated near the Heartland Whole Health Institute and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art on the 134-acre Crystal Bridges campus.
An innovative curriculum focused on whole-person care requires an equally innovative building, and Polk Stanley Wilcox’s design delivers in every way,” founder Alice Walton said. “Well-designed spaces play a role in our well-being, and as we train future physicians to successfully tackle the health care challenges of the 21st century, it’s essential that we support their physical, mental, emotional and social health.”
Entry. Photography by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
Conceived as an abstraction of Ozark geology, the dramatic front corner entry offers a protective canopy inspired by natural limestone bluff shelters prevalent in the region. The front entrance is covered by a sloping glazing, a brass soffit with a satin finish and a precast concrete exterior wall. Two-story-deep steel trusses that cantilever more than 80 feet make up the primary structure, giving the building its gravity-defying shape.
The building’s glass exteriors reflect the surrounding forest. Nearly 8,000 square feet of perforated brass sunshades help mitigate heat while maximizing natural light.
Façade. Photography by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
Inside, the four-story facility is filled with state-of-the-art teaching spaces, including a library, a simulation center, a clinical skills center, an anatomy resource center with an anatomy lab, and a makerspace where students can collaborate on 3D-printed anatomical models and other projects. The facility also offers recreational spaces such as a gym, quiet space, student lounge and wellness studio.
Creatively embodying the principles of whole health, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is designed to transform the future of medical education, transcending traditional boundaries between art, architecture, nature and wellness,” said Wesley Walls, design principal at Polk Stanley Wilcox. “The building emerges from the landscape as a link between nature and community, its unique form and materials creating an academic environment purposefully designed to challenge convention and foster innovation in advancing a new health care model for the 21st century.”
Lounge. Photography by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
Designed by Office of Strategy + Design in New York, along with the building’s rooftop park, the landscape seamlessly connects the facility with the campus trail system. Emphasizing the positive impact of nature on health, the outdoor areas support well-being through green spaces that foster community, promote active lifestyles and provide fresh food.
With AWSOM teaching students to proactively treat the whole person, it became clear that a new type of physical environment for health is needed — one that abandons the old formula of building in a sea of parking and instead brings us back in balance with the numerous benefits of nature, community and art,” said Simon David, principal and creative director at OSD. “In this way, the AWSOM landscape is a physical manifestation of whole-health principles. The landscape absorbs site and building into one, extending into the paths and woodlands of Crystal Bridges.”
Offering more than 550 new trees and 140,000 native plants, the landscape invites visitors to explore trails through the forest, a community lawn, a tulip poplar walkway, ponds, healing gardens, meditation terraces, outdoor classrooms and a woodland amphitheater with a 215-foot water feature.
A 2-acre rooftop park — the largest in the region — climbs 70 feet from the forest floor through eroded plateau stonework and onto an overlook that provides views of the Ozark landscape.
Exterior view of building with Ugo Rondinone’s The Melancholic, 2015 in the foreground at right. Photography by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. Artwork: Ugo Rondinone (b. 1964), The Melancholic, 2015, bluestone, concrete, and steel, 393 3/4 x 133 x 90 1/8 in. Art Bridges.
Visitors to the school are greeted by the bluestone, concrete and steel sculpture The Melancholic, created in 2015 by contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone, which was acquired for AWSOM by Art Bridges Foundation, also founded by Walton.
The public spaces, including a lobby, art gallery and cafe, will open to the public Nov. 3. In celebration of the public opening, Art Bridges Foundation has curated an inaugural art exhibition presented on the first floor of the building.
The exhibit “Good Medicine: The Power of Indigenous Art” examines the role of art production and creativity for Indigenous peoples in supporting cultural continuity, health and community connection.
Study Spaces. Photography by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
Crossland Construction began construction on AWSOM in 2023. Founded by Walton in 2021, the nonprofit four-year medical school enhances traditional medical education with arts, humanities and whole-health principles. It aims to train physicians who are devoted to transforming the health of medically underserved and rural communities in Arkansas and beyond.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education granted the school preliminary accreditation status in 2024. Tuition will be waived for the first five cohorts of students.
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