The Watershed Conservation Resource Center (WCRC) is restoring a 98-acre riparian wetland landscape near downtown Fayetteville. The WCRC and the city co-own and manage the site as a commons under a permanent conservation easement. The WCRC will integrate riverine ecology with culture, heritage, and science in an inclusive and accessible environment that promotes public education and stewardship. Heritage landscapes with outdoor exhibitions will interpret the riparian lifeways of Native American, African American, and Euro-American settler populations who foraged and cultivated food and fiber along the region’s waterways.
A collaboration of urban designers, architectural educators, ecologists specializing in stream restoration, and state archeologists have developed content for interpretive exhibits, habitat structure, and edible landscapes highlighting regenerative resource management technologies among indigenous and settler lifeways. The project team included ecologists and engineers at WCRC, architects and urban designers at the University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC), archaeologists at the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and design students at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. This Public Access Framework Plan operates at the intersection of anthropology, ecology, and design in developing a lasting and robust riverine knowledge fund across space and time.
Awards
2023 London International Creative Competition Official Selection—Architecture
2023 American Architecture Award
2023 The Plan Awards: Culture Future Honorable Mention
2023 The Plan Awards: Landscape Future Honorable Mention
2023 EDRA/Great Places Award: Honorable Mention for Planning
2023 Green GOOD DESIGN Award
2023 Progressive Architecture Award: Citation
Sponsors
National Endowment for the Arts
American Institute of Architects Small Project Design Grant Program
Client
Watershed Conservation Resource Center