SAM WALTON HALL
Client: Walmart
Time Period: 2018 – 2024
Role: Architect
Size: 200,000 SF
MBL Architecture worked closely with Walmart to design a state-of-the-art auditorium, conference, and training center for the retail titan’s new corporate headquarters in Bentonville, AR. Construction on the 200,000 SF Sam Walton Hall, named after Walmart’s iconic founder, was completed in late 2024.
MBL took cues from the modernist architectural traditions of Northwest Arkansas in the design of Sam Walton Hall. Inspired by the stone buildings, low-slung roofs, and wood accents in the work of iconic Arkansans such as Durell Stone and Fay Jones, the hall’s rhythmic stone and glass facade is interrupted by large scale metal volumes and wooden overhangs which respond to internal program elements and the site.
The hall is located at the intersection of the campus’ two organizing elements: the pedestrian thoroughfare of 8th Street, and the green groove – a swathe of forested landscape complete with lakes, gardens, and cycling paths that cuts across the entire campus. Along 8th Street, low wooden overhangs provide a human-scale pedestrian experience and shade for the ‘break-out’ areas just outside the Conference room. Along the green groove, the main entrance and floating conference rooms break up the stone and glass rhythm with large metal volumes that provide panoramic views to nature.
Sam Walton Hall houses a 1,500-seat raked auditorium; a conference center with movable partitions to host various sized meetings; 60,000 SF of training and development rooms; Walmart TV and Radio studios; and a variety of support spaces, break-out zones, offices, dressing rooms, and maintenance shops. The various programs are organized around a triple height central atrium, which is filled with natural light by skylights interspersed along the undulating wood slat ceilings – which provide a sense of dynamism and movement to the space. The atrium’s roof structure has been upgraded to support Sam Walton’s iconic Ercoupe 415c airplane, which is suspended in the atrium as a permanent exhibit. Surrounding the atrium at all three levels, a series of gathering spaces, lounges, and booths fulfill the client’s wish for “collision spaces” across campus, where associates can bump into each other, socialize, and cross-pollinate new ideas in an informal fashion. A monumental stair along 8th Street wraps around a backlit, perforated metal mural of Mr. Walton and his iconic yellow notepad – and serves as the building’s signpost to the rest of campus.
