grafton architects arrives at university of arkansas with passive, mass-timber building

Anthony Timberlands Center opens at university of arkansas

The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation opens at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, marking Grafton Architects’ first completed project in the United States. Designed in collaboration with local firm Modus Studio, the 42,000-square-foot mass-timber building stands as a new precedent for environmentally-responsive campus architecture informed by material research and regional identity.

The center is both an academic facility and a working laboratory dedicated to timber design, sustainable forestry, and digital fabrication. With classrooms, studios, galleries, and a double-height fabrication hall, the building is a core component of the university’s growing Art and Design District.

Dean Peter MacKeith describes the center as ‘a living curriculum’ which allows students to engage with the full lifecycle of architecture, from material sourcing to assembly. At the same time, the project supports faculty research into affordable housing, forestry, and emerging timber technologies.

images © Tim Hursley

grafton architects’ ‘story book of timber’

True to Grafton Architects’ material-driven approach, the building is conceived as a ‘Story Book of Timber.’ Its structure reveals layers of Southern Yellow Pine, white oak, red cedar, and other native species sourced from Arkansas forests. The Pritzker Prize-winning architects top the structure with a cascading roof system of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels supported by monumental glue-laminated beams that function as rainwater gutters.

This roof performs as both infrastructure and climate mediator — shading interiors from the southern sun, directing runoff to a bioswale, and defining the center’s architectural character. Circulation routes thread between the fabrication hall and teaching spaces, opening framed views toward the courtyard and surrounding campus. Passive strategies, such as calibrated glazing and natural ventilation, reduce dependency on active systems like air conditioning.

the Anthony Timberlands Center opens as Grafton Architects’ first project in the US

international design informed by local expertise

The partnership between Grafton Architects and Modus Studio brought together international design experience and regional construction expertise. While Grafton shaped the conceptual framework, the team at Modus translated it into local material systems and fabrication methods, and ensured that Arkansas’s forests and industries were integral to the process.

Thus, the building merges global architectural discourse with regional culture. Chris Baribeau of Modus Studio emphasized the ambition to ‘bridge international design with regional application,’ a balance evident in the project’s technical sophistication and material authenticity.

Located within the University of Arkansas’ growing Art and Design District, the Anthony Timberlands Center adds to a larger campus district that includes the Windgate Studio and Design Center and the forthcoming Windgate Gallery and Foundations Building. A shaded pedestrian courtyard planted with loblolly pines connects the structures, and serves as a landscaped outdoor classroom.

the building joins the University of Arkansas’ growing Art and Design District

its mass-timber structure uses locally-sourced lumber

a cascading CLT roof shades interiors and channels rainwater into a bioswale

passive environmental strategies demonstrate climate-responsive timber architecture

project info:

name: Anthony Timberlands Center

design architect: Grafton Architects | @graftonarchitects

local architect: Modus Studio | @modusstudio

location: Arkansas, USA

client: University of Arkansas | @uarkansas

completion: 2025

photography: © Tim Hursley | @timhursley

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