The healing power of nature is a universal human experience and has been espoused throughout history in the Gospel of John, by the Ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates, and in several key texts of eastern and new age religions. It is one of the guiding principles behind the architecture of Islamic hospital designs dating to the 12th century and will serve as the key to New York-based multidisciplinary studio OSD’s landscape design for the new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Scheduled to open in the fall of 2025, pending the new school’s accreditation, the campus is to be connected to the currently under-construction Whole Health Institute building from Marlon Blackwell and the nearby Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which was also designed (in unison with Safdie Architects) around an elevating naturalistic experience.

OSD will work with Little Rock-based lead architects Polk Stanley Wilcox to realize philanthropist Alice Walton’s vision to design a network of interconnected hiking trails surrounding a new 154,000-square-foot main academic building in what the latter’s principal Wesley Walls characterized as a “holistic link between mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.”

The school’s curriculum centers on a balance of holistic and traditional approaches to medical training, and OSD says its design will reflect this by incorporating a series of well-placed meditative gardens, outdoor classrooms, urban farming plot, and rooftop space that features an amphitheater and cafe.

“Designing the landscape for the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine truly requires an integrative approach that considers the experience, influence and impact of nature on the mind, body and spirit,” OSD principal Simon David said of the task ahead. “The project offers an exciting new paradigm of healing and learning environments that holistically blends building and landscape to create a deeply-rooted connection to the Bentonville community, the world-class arts environment of Crystal Bridges, and the wider ecosystem and magic of the Ozarks.”

The project is still in the design and development phase and hopes to begin construction in the spring of next year. In a recent project announcement, Walton said finally: “The School of Medicine is poised to be an inspiring learning environment that supports well-being, emphasizes innovation, and equips future physicians to be agents of change.”