Construction work is well underway on Grafton Architects–designed Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation at the University of Arkansas. Last week, 120 people gathered at the site of the wooden structure to watch the “topping out,” a ceremony to recognize the placement of the highest point of the structure—a slab of its cascading roof plane.
In its search for an architect, University of Arkansas reviewed proposals from 69 firms in 10 countries. In early 2020, the review committee selected Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, cofounders of Grafton Architects and Modus Studio, setting the project into motion for a proposed finish in mid-2024, a timeline that has now been revised to spring 2025.
Housing the state’s only school of architecture and design, the Anthony Timberlands Center at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is a space that embodies its unique wooden construction in its educational foundation. The interior features open-plan studios, a high-bay fabrication workshop, a lecture hall and an exhibition gallery, along with other rooms for conferences and research work.
In an interview conducted by AN in 2022 on the building’s reimagined use of timber and wood, cofounder of Grafton Architects Yvonne Farrell commented, “The school will teach timber from the biggest spans down to the tactile interiors. Construction, at times, leaves craft behind. But we appreciate craft as something built by the hands of makers. It’s like an oral history, but it’s a physical history. If we can see this building as a piece of furniture or like a ship, then we think the timber industry has a chance to be both commercially successful and emotionally connective.”
Given that Arkansas is a state that is nearly 57 percent forested, and the eight largest timber produced in the United States, the building design integrates the importance of this regional feature in its sustainable construction and teaching approach acting as a research tool and prototype that addresses conflicting social, ecological, cultural, and economic issues at play.