STEM UnversityLocation: Bentonville, AR2026
Commissioned by members of the Walton family in 2025, the new STEM-focused university represents a rare civic investment: the creation of an entirely new world-class learning institution in Northwest Arkansas. The urban campus, designed by BIG and Polk Stanley Wilcox, extends downtown Bentonville onto the site of the former Walmart Home Office, bringing three distinctive buildings together through a spine of active public plazas and green spaces.
Designed to cultivate the next generation of innovators rooted in the region, the university includes a 130,614-sq-ft makerspace envisioned as a flexible innovation hub that anchors campus life; a 147,525-sq-ft academic building designed to create dialogue across disciplines; and a 400-bed student residential building organized around generous outdoor courtyards.
Program: Makerspace, Education
Role: Project Leader
Phase: Concept through to CD
Bjarke Ingels Group
https://big.dk/projects/stem-university-23492
https://alicelwaltonfoundation.org/news_post/walton-family-announces-selection-of-big-bjarke-ingels-group-to-plan-and-design-the-campus-of-a-new-stem-focused-university/
https://www.fastcompany.com/91554857/a-world-class-stem-university-is-coming-to-small-town-arkansas
https://www.fastcompany.com/91554857/a-world-class-stem-university-is-coming-to-small-town-arkansas