Dublin-based Grafton Architects has completed the Anthony Timberlands Center (ATC), a striking four-story timber building that serves as the firm's first construction project in the United States. The 42,000-square-foot structure, designed in collaboration with local firm modus studio, houses the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

The $43 million building stands prominently along a busy arterial street opposite a Walmart, creating what visitors describe as a roadside attraction or wayside shrine. Despite being reduced from its originally proposed six stories to four due to budget constraints, the ATC maintains its distinctive sawtooth profile and sectional complexity that defines its architectural thesis. The building's cost translates to approximately $1,024 per square foot.

Grafton Architects, led by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, won the prominent competition for this project in February 2020, just one week before receiving the prestigious Pritzker Prize. The timing proved challenging as the COVID-19 pandemic began the following month, but construction proceeded with some modifications to the original design.

The building serves as a comprehensive showcase for timber construction possibilities, featuring a massive structural framework made from spruce, pine, and fir fabricated by Binderholz in Austria. Eight solid columns, each approximately four feet square, support the entire structure. The frames are decorated with wooden plugs that conceal bolted connections between pieces, creating both functional and aesthetic appeal. Above, the building incorporates domestic CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) panels from Mercer Mass Timber in Conway, Arkansas.

The ATC's programmatic design divides into two distinct zones: a double-height, 11,000-square-foot fabrication and design-build shop on the lower level, topped by a stack of classrooms, studios, and conference spaces. Upper studio floors feature windows overlooking the shop, while street-level passersby can peer down into the workspace, emphasizing hands-on construction as a central element of the school's educational philosophy.

Dean Peter MacKeith's arrival in 2014 and the subsequent building project launch in 2016 coincided with dramatic growth at the Fay Jones School. Enrollment expanded from 425 students in 2014 to approximately 1,100 today. The ATC forms part of the new Windgate Art and Design District, a satellite campus area created due to space constraints on the main university campus.

The building joins two other structures in this artistic enclave: HGA's Windgate Studio & Design Center and an under-construction university art gallery designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Ground Control designed Anthony's Way, a landscaped parklet that provides a buffer between the ATC and neighboring buildings. This cluster of new buildings sits about 20 minutes' walk from the main campus but adjacent to Fayetteville's Cultural Arts Corridor.

Exterior materials reflect both aesthetic and practical considerations. The taller sections feature thermally treated southern yellow pine cladding, partly responding to building code requirements for non-combustible materials above 40 feet, according to modus studio's Jason Wright. A lattice of western red cedar lines the longer, lower elevations, spanning over windows, while silver metal panels similar to the roof material appear above. The top floor includes covered porches on both ends, offering views of the Ouachita Mountains.

Shelley McNamara noted that such adventurous exterior cladding expression wouldn't be possible in Ireland, the U.K., or France due to different building regulations. The building's craggy profile has drawn comparisons to the hilly topography of the surrounding Ozark Plateau, with Wright describing it as an "Ozark cross section" endemic to the region where "our hills aren't high, but our hollers sure are deep."

The interior design philosophy embraces an intentionally unfinished warehouse aesthetic, with exposed but expertly coordinated mechanical and electrical systems. This approach encourages emerging designers to make the space their own without self-consciousness, particularly in the well-equipped shop, which features a linear gantry crane spanning the space. A second entrance into the shop opens with a large hangar door for easy equipment loading and access.

Custom details throughout the building reflect collaborative craftsmanship. Local artisan Rachel McClintock fabricated the main entry, while renowned architect Juhani Pallasmaa created a cast-metal door handle. Wood continues as a finish material in stairwells and wall treatments, with even glass guardrails topped with cherry caps, reinforcing the timber theme throughout.

Grafton Architects' approach combines structural expression with careful attention to light and rhythm throughout the interior spaces. McNamara explained that throughout their career, the duo has been "combating the effect of mass production, because it very often takes the life out of the material." She expressed delight that the finished building "feels like a big chunk of timber."

Despite their international stature, McNamara and Farrell maintain a remarkably personal approach to their practice. They keep their Dublin atelier small—38 people with 37 architects, McNamara noted—to maintain personal connections to each project. Their opening lecture demonstrated their broad cultural interests, beginning with mention of the first architecture competition in Greece in 448 BC and continuing to discuss Ogham stones, ancient rocks inscribed with the earliest forms of Irish language.

Student response has been enthusiastic since the building's opening at the end of August. Fifth-year undergraduate architecture major Trey Melton praised the lighting quality and pointed out tables designed and made by students themselves. He was already working on assignments in John Folan's studio, which researches wave-layered timber (WLT), a Finnish product combining ruffled wood pieces without glue—its first licensed use in the United States.

The building's rich formal vocabulary invites multiple interpretations and references. Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright noted its Roman qualities, while early inspiration came from historic Ozark barn framing. Robert McCarter compared its two-part arrangement to a train hall paired with a train shed. The profile has also been likened to dinosaur skeletons, Giovanni Michelucci's San Giovanni Battista, and Theo Jansen's strandbeests.

Sustainability considerations influenced several design decisions. While classroom floors receive full conditioning, the shop is heated but not cooled, instead using equipment to pull air up and out of the tall enclosed area. The canoe-like beams shed water into bioswales for reuse, and carbon modeling informed design decisions. The project targets LEED Gold certification, though Wright noted that "in the end the math doesn't matter because the building speaks for itself."

The ATC connects to Arkansas architectural heritage, particularly the work of Fay Jones, the school's namesake architect. Farrell referenced Jones's wood architecture like Thorncrown Chapel, but faculty member Gregory Herman suggested Jones's own nearby home provides a better analogy. Built in 1956 with "the idea of the cave and the tree house," the residence—now university-owned—mirrors the ATC's organization: the shop as cave, the studios as tree house.

Historical parallels extend to the university's founding era. Like the ATC, Old Main, the university's oldest building from 1875, was built of local materials including wood milled from Ozark forests. Both buildings were dedicated on hot August days, 150 years apart, representing continuity in the institution's commitment to regional materials and craftsmanship.

For a town named after Fayetteville, Tennessee, and an institution whose first building was copied from the University of Illinois, Grafton Architects has delivered what observers call a remarkably original masterpiece, both heroic and ordinary. The building addresses the fundamental mismatch between architecture's necessarily slow pace and contemporary culture's accelerated discourse, serving as what Farrell described as a refuge.

During their opening lecture, Farrell emphasized architecture's enduring role: "Architecture is a silent language that speaks" and "Architecture is an act of hope and belief." This philosophy aligns with higher education's optimistic mission of transferring wisdom from experienced practitioners to ambitious students who will shape tomorrow's built environment. As Farrell concluded, "Education is the biggest gift you can give to the future."