Crystal Bridges unveils expansion progress
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A rendering shows the addition to the museum, including an outdoor courtyard. Courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Thirteen years after Walmart heir Alice Walton opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the consequential NWA amenity and visitors' attraction is expanding by about half its current size.
Driving the news: Axios took a hard-hat tour to check out the construction progress that promises to grow our flagship Bentonville art museum.
The intrigue: Much of the additional space isn't purely for displaying more art. It's ramping up community-oriented spaces like a multipurpose room that can host classes and banquets, an outdoor courtyard and spaces for screenings or performances.
- Adults, children and potentially artists in residence will have artmaking space for ceramics and crafts plus access to a digital arts room with amenities like 3D printers.
- A kitchen will allow for the museum to offer lunches to the many children's camps and field trips that visit.
- Crystal Bridges will move its existing library (yes, there's a library) to a more public-facing lounge space.
What they're saying: "It's community access. It's community use," project manager Amanda Owens told Axios.
- "This has always been a place for the community to come, and this is just our opportunity to do that on an expanded level — bring more children through, reach more people, create more programming that people want."
Yes, but: More gallery space is certainly part of the package. A new 15,000-square-foot gallery will be the museum's second temporary exhibition space, meaning the museum will usually have two different temporary exhibitions up and running in addition to its permanent collection, Owens said. When one is being rotated out, the other will still be on display.
- "What makes this so special is that it has this incredibly gentle curve which just repeats almost like a wave," Matthew Longo of Safdie Architects said of the gallery's ceiling, explaining that it's designed to let in daylight but not direct sunlight.
- The expansion includes another 13,000-square-foot gallery plus room for display cases throughout walkways.
By the numbers: The existing museum is 210,000 square feet. The expansion will add 114,000 square feet.
Zoom out: The expansion comes as the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine and Heartland Whole Health Institute are also under construction near the Crystal Bridges campus.
What's next: Museum leadership expects the additional space to open in 2026.
Editor's note: This story was updated after museum leaders told Axios they now expect the new space to open in 2026, not 2025.