The Momentary—a satellite of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas—makes cutting-edge contemporary art a part of daily living.

The project transforms a 70-year-old decommissioned Kraft Foods plant into a one-of-a-kind contemporary arts destination.

The project transforms a patchwork of existing concrete and masonry factory buildings into a fluid arts experience.

Rather than attempting to blur its newest additions into what existed before, contemporary interventions of glass and steel appear to ﬂoat, superimposed on to the former factory.

These contemporary materials instantly identify the building in the here and now – alerting visitors that something out of the ordinary is taking place.

To pay homage to the site’s extended history as Osage hunting land, the glass additions feature a printed frit pattern, inspired from ceremonial weaving and designed by a local Osage artist— Addie Roanhorse. The pattern playfully changes in scale and transparency as it moves across the additions in response to the immediate context of each.

The new Entry, with glass walls and a glass roof, is carefully inserted between two existing masonry buildings and under existing pipes running overhead. Here, the woven frit pattern is featured at a large-scale to help direct visitors to the door and invite the community in.

Parked at the former loading dock, a steel and glass trailer, ‘The Container’ creates a sense of curiosity, discovery, and anticipation; its presence signaling to visitors approaching the site that something new is happening.

Bandaloop – © Dero Sanford, courtesy of the Momentary

‘The Tower’ features a glass rainscreen system that doubles as another canvas for art. On the opening weekend, visitors watched as the scrim was backlit, projected on, and used for a choreographed vertical dance performance suspended from the glass.

Atop the tower, a new glass and steel box is perched slightly askew. Visitors enjoy a bar space with panoramic views and peer down into the tower’s mezzanines through a circular glass floor in the void of a former fermentation tank.

Ironside Photography / Stephen Ironside, courtesy The Momentary

Inside and out, the Momentary upends what’s expected from a traditional art museum. It is created to be a neighborhood place where anyone can wander in for a fresh, unpredictable interaction with contemporary art.

In every room, visitors puzzle out the physical remnants of the building’s former life—enjoying a concert in a space where tanker trucks delivered milk or viewing art in a gallery surrounded by the complex piping that once functioned as the former plant’s circulatory system. Inside every space, the Momentary allows the building’s relics to disrupt narratives with stories and curiosity about its past.

Additional Images

Architect: Wheeler Kearns Architects
General Contractor: Flintco
Civil Engineer: McClelland Engineers
Landscape Architect: Howell & Vancuren Landscape Architects
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
MEP/FP and IT Engineer: McGuire Engineers
Lighting Consultant: Lux Populi
Theatre Designer: Schuler Shook
Acoustic and AV Design: Threshold Acoustics
Kitchen Design: Edge Associates
Interiors / Branding / Signage: FODA
Artist: Addie Roanhorse (Osage artist, glass frit patterns)
Photography: Tom Harris, Timothy Hursley, Dero Sanford, and courtesy of The Momentary.