All Saints Episcopal Church

Project Information:

ALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Bentonville, Arkansas

Design Development

All Saints’ readily adapts to its difficult site by transforming the parti of a traditional basilica and the nuanced liturgy of the Episcopal Church.  Significant constraints and steep topography on site result in a small triangular footprint that informs and influences the form of the church.

The scale is adjusted to provide an iconic figure towards the busy highway to the north and a pedestrian scale with a generous entry porch facing the residential neighborhood to the south.  Confined by the requirements of parking, access, and topography, the landscape is internalized in a triangular courtyard flanked by the primary circulation routes; a modern cloister.  At the apex of the courtyard is the narthex, a place of response before entering the sanctuary, lit from above with a ribbon skylight calibrated to deliver a threshold of light on Sunday mornings. To connect to the larger artistic community centered around the nearby Crystal Bridges Museum of American, spaces for the incorporation and display of art are included throughout the church.

As the form projects from the hillside, expansive views of the Ozark hills nearby are revealed, but face east and west so a continuous veil of white perforated aluminum panels wraps the exterior to control the daytime sun, and is then backlit to become a beacon at night.  The chapel and auricle located within the apex point of the triangular form is accessible from within, but also from the trail system nearby as a wayfarer chapel, further connecting the church to the community.

Structural: Engineering Consultants, Inc.
Mechanical/Plumbing: Buro Happold Engineering
Civil: CEI, Inc.
Landscape: Crafton Tull Sparks
Lighting: Buro Happold Engineering
Acoustics: Dr. Tahar Messadi
Geotechnical Engineer: GTS, Inc.
Contractor: Flintco LLC

Project Awards:

2015:
Arkansas AIA Citation Award