By: Caleb Burkholder
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – The Fay Jones School of Architecture just had a “topping off” ceremony for the new Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
This ceremony represents a long-standing tradition in architecture of placing an evergreen tree at the top of the highest point of the structure.
The Anthony Timberlands Center is now in the final stages of completion after beginning construction in the fall of 2021.
There were many speakers and attendees at this ceremony including Chancellor Charles Robinson, Mayor Lionel Jordan, and the dean of the Architecture and Design school Peter Mackeith. They all shared similar testimonies about how this new building will inspire innovation within the students who attend the architecture school.
Robinson spoke to a crowd of over one-hundred people to make several statements about the meaning of this building and how it will affect the university and the students of architecture.
“The Anthony Timberlands Center represents the University of Arkansas’ ongoing commitment to research and innovation that directly serves the people of our state,” said Robinson.
Mackeith said that this building will usher in an environmentally sound way of thinking and using timber.
“We are now very committed as a school to both economic development issues in the state, environmental issues in the state, housing issues in the state and all of this can be filtered through the timber and wood project that we’re embarked on,” said Mackeith.
Mackeith also said that this project could never have happened without the help of Nabholz, a construction company based in Arkansas.
When this building is completed, it will be used to prototype affordable housing and innovations using timber.
The Anthony Timberlands Center is set to finish construction and be fully running in fall of 2025.