I was at the Alice Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) last summer during the first week of classes. I visited with Wesley Walls, the Little Rock architect from Polk Stanley Wilcox, who designed the facility. It was one of those "I can't believe I'm in Arkansas moments," which have become increasingly common as billionaires such as Walton invest in the state.

Standing with us was Simon David from New York's Office of Strategy Design, which handled the landscape architecture. A man-made waterfall tumbled behind Walls and David as they talked.

"I've been spending so much time outside that people comment on my tan and ask me where I've been on vacation," David said. "They're surprised when I tell them northwest Arkansas."

Walls said he visited Ozark bluff shelters with his family as a child. He described his AWSOM design as "a 21st-century shelter for healing." The building covers 154,000 square feet. Each of its four levels has access to an outside park. When Walton held a design competition in 2021, she asked architects to embrace her whole-health philosophy while focusing on community, connection, nature and the Ozarks.

"It took a whole team to make this happen," Walls said. "We decided that the building should resemble Ozark ledgestone coming out of the ground. "

"The project was about combining technology and nature," David said. "We wanted to make this entire area a showcase for the whole health lifestyle. We have gyms, places where fresh food is served, wetland ponds and healing gardens. We used a lot of stone and cypress from Arkansas."

Walls said part of the AWSOM mission is to promote an active lifestyle. Students are encouraged to spend as much time outside as possible. Though the students arrived in July, a ceremonial opening didn't occur until Oct. 29.

"I didn't expect to be overwhelmed this morning, but I am," Walton said that day. "I'm truly overwhelmed. I cannot believe that we're all actually here. It's a special day in my life. When I founded AWSOM in 2021, I knew it had to be on the Crystal Bridges campus. I had long looked and searched for a way to integrate both from the art side and health care side ... because I think they need each other.

"Having a medical school here on the Crystal Bridges campus was one of the goals, as well as locating the Heartland Whole Health Institute here. The vision was based on a new kind of medical school, one that would transform the next generation of physicians based on what communities need now; not just disease care but whole person care, prioritizing keeping people healthy, not just seeing them when they're sick."

Walton said she wants the entire Crystal Bridges campus to showcase the best of art, nature, architecture, education, health care and wellness.

"Art is really all about the wellness of a community," she said. "And wellness and health care need art as their soul and........

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