Institute Building Opening May 1

Designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects, the building celebrates the connection between art and wellness.

Heartland Whole Health Institute will open to the public on May 1, welcoming members of the media and the community to explore this 85,000-square-foot structure that brings together architecture, art, nature, education, and wellness offerings on the 134-acre Crystal Bridges Campus.

Designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects, the Institute building is inspired by the natural landscape of the Ozarks and features curvilinear forms that respond to the sense of place of the museum’s campus.

Heartland Whole Health Institute, founded in 2019 by philanthropist Alice Walton, works with the health care industry in developing a whole-health approach that considers the needs of the whole person with the goal of preventing disease, improving health outcomes, and sustaining wellness.

“This building embodies the key elements of whole health – integrating our physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being,” says Walton. “It’s surrounded by nature, with trails that invite exploration, and is designed to bring people together to learn, engage, and connect. Marlon Blackwell Architects has created a landmark building that will welcome our community and beyond, enhancing the experience of visiting the Crystal Bridges Campus.”

“Designed from the inside out and the outside in, Heartland Whole Health Institute is both a platform for and physical realization of the Institute’s mission to move health beyond illness treatment and into wholistic well-being,” said Ati and Marlon Blackwell, founding Partners of Marlon Blackwell Architects. “Its spaces, materials, and forms, drawn from the site’s karst topography and Ozark forests, enhance the connection to nature and place, and create an atmosphere to nurture the whole self.”

The bluffs, caves, rivers, forests, and fields present throughout the Northwest Arkansas region inspired the Institute’s design. The building’s composition is a mix of weathered brass fins, glass, and stone cladding. The stone, also known as Giraffe Stone, is a vernacular building method found throughout the region, and the weathered brass fins are akin to the hardwood forests prominent in the Ozarks. The fins help mitigate solar exposure of the interior spaces, while also creating a spatial experience like that of walking through the forest on a fall day.

Visitors are invited into the building through a generous dogtrot, a passageway that runs through the center of the building and opens to a lawn with the forest beyond. Upon entering, visitors can view art in a gallery space, take a break at the café, or attend programs in the event spaces. The upper levels of this three-story building are dedicated to office space for the Institute and other non-profits founded by Walton, including Art Bridges Foundation and Alice L. Walton Foundation.

The inaugural art exhibition, The Art of Whole Health, is curated by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and features more than 25 works of art ranging from sculpture to paintings and photographs.

The Institute will open to the public at noon on May 1, and host a variety of public programs in collaboration with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

• Thursday, May 1: noon – 6 p.m.
• Friday, May 2: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Saturday, May 3: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Public hours for the Institute beginning May 5 are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Additional Projects by Marlon Blackwell Architects on the Crystal Bridges Campus

Crystal Bridges Campus Parking is a new six-story, 800-space parking deck that serves as a threshold into the campus.

The entrance drive is lined with native landscape that knits into an entry plaza and the forest beyond. The parking deck features a café and retail space on the ground level and an elevated art and performance space, named Sky Terrace, on the second level. These engaging spaces and striking architectural features elevate the typical parking deck building type into a vital, multipurpose destination on the thriving campus.

“The goal of Crystal Bridges Campus Parking was to transform a utilitarian feature into a welcoming entrance,” said Lead Designer Marlon Blackwell. “By including Sky Terrace performance and gathering space and a café, visitors can begin their day with friendly amenities that demonstrate the culture and character of a world-class destination.”

Approaching from the south, the singular geometry of the structure is evident. Visitors enter the parking area under a series of metal-clad fins along the south edge of the building, which are replicated on the north. The aqua azure metal panel color pays homage to a vintage car color and creates a powerful landmark.

At dusk, the parking deck is activated by a constellation of color-changing LED lights at each level, mimicking the dance of fireflies and providing opportunities to create unique and ever-changing light scenes within the building.

Marlon Blackwell Architects’ deep understanding of the Crystal Bridges Campus was enhanced by the firm’s design work within the museum, including the Museum Store (which received an American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Interior Design) and the museum’s restaurant, Eleven. Currently, Marlon Blackwell serves on the design team for the collaboration between the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas; DesignConnects; and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which was selected by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs to commission, organize, and curate the exhibition of the United States Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.

A Campus for Art and Wellness

In addition to the Institute, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine will also open this year, welcoming its first class of students on July 14. Designed by architect Wesley Walls, AIA, of Little Rock, Arkansas based firm Polk Stanley Wilcox, the new state-of-the-art facility complements the School’s mission to reshape medical education with an innovative, four-year MD program that enhances conventional medical education with a whole-person approach to care.

In 2026, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will open a 114,000-square-foot expansion that will increase museum facilities by 50 percent. Safdie Architects has returned to create a seamlessly integrated expansion that resonates with the existing pavilions and outdoor spaces. The new structures will house additional galleries, educational facilities, event spaces, a café, and new indoor and outdoor gathering areas.

About Heartland Whole Health Institute

Founded in 2019 by philanthropist Alice Walton, Heartland Whole Health Institute puts a whole health approach at the center of the broader health care system to address the current health care crisis. The vision is to advocate, educate, and guide the implementation of an innovative system, rooted in whole health and the realignment of financial incentives.

The Institute was driven by its founder’s health care experience and furthered by research revealing that the United States has one of the highest levels of health care spending worldwide yet relatively low rankings in overall health. In conjunction with Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, the Institute will transform health care by improving outcomes, reducing costs, and expanding access, beginning in the Heartland and scaling nationally.