Design Award Entries

Ledger

The Ledger is a new 230,000 square foot mixed-use office building in downtown Bentonville. A new kind of workplace experience, the Ledger offers diverse amenities connected to an extensive network of pedestrian trails. Blurring the lines of where the sidewalk ends and the building begins, ramps traverse the east facade along Main Street, inviting the public to bike up the ascending terraces that scale the building to its context.

Project Statement

The Ledger is a new 230,000 square foot mixed-use co-working office building in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. A new kind of workplace experience, the Ledger offers diverse amenities in addition to office space including retail, restaurant, and event spaces, all connected to an extensive network of pedestrian trails, redefining what it means to ‘bike to work’. Blurring the lines of where the sidewalk ends and the building begins, ramps ascend the east facade along Main Street, inviting the public to bike up the ascending terraces that scale the building to its context. Ledger is complemented by an adjacent, detached 500-space parking garage that includes a climbing wall and surfaces for large-scale public art. A large entry portal aligns with the intersection of Main Street and 4th Street, connecting a generous sidewalk along Main Street to a new public park to the west and leading to a generous public lobby and circulation spaces inside.

The material palette for the Ledger is kept deliberately simple, clad predominantly in copper and glass except for service areas on the ground floor wrapped in black, box rib metal panels. A mechanical court on the roof is wrapped with a copper screen to help shield the adjacent roof terrace from intense sun. With auditorium seating overlooking the downtown square sunsets, the roof terrace has become a destination for viewing sunsets, wedding receptions, and other big events, offering a reward for the six-story journey up the ramps. By rethinking the nature of public space, a completely new kind of experience has emerged that, as Treehugger magazine noted, “shows a glimpse of the future in how buildings, people, and the environment should seamlessly interlace."

With a patina that gradually turns a soft purple and brown, the copper is warm and inviting, tracing the faceted edges of each ramp and floor. Following the ramps, the continuous glass storefront ensures every office and workspace has a street-front presence and access. Along the narrower north and south ends, alternate floors are extended to create covered outdoor areas that are often directly connected to the ramps.
Inside, the design focuses on common circulation and collaboration spaces that often connect more than one floor level. The majority of the interior are ‘white box’ tenant spaces that are finished out by various businesses and organizations, but generous public and common areas are designed and detailed with a simple material palette that is consistent with the exterior strategy. Polished concrete floors and reflective metal ceilings help bring light deep into the building along with extensive interior glass framed in white oak, which also wraps the open stairs and floor edges. Large custom wood benches wrap planters in the lobby spaces and integral seating along the ramps offer places to sit and work or just relax.

The overall effect is a building with a ‘work hard, play hard’ attitude that weaves together the pervasive cycling culture in Northwest Arkansas and the flow of business life.