Peter MacKeith
Peter MacKeith, 55, became dean of the Jones School of Architecture on July 1, 2014. Before coming to Arkansas, MacKeith was a professor and assistant dean at Washington University in St. Louis. MacKeith spent nearly a decade as director of the Master of Architecture-International Program at what is now known as Aalto University in Finland.
MacKeith received his bachelor’s degree in English and international relations from the University of Virginia and a master’s in architecture from Yale. He is fluent in English, French and Finnish.
MacKeith received from the president of Finland the insignia of Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland in February 2014 for his contributions to culture and architecture.
What is the job market for graduating architects, and what do those architects need to know to succeed professionally?
The employment prospects for architecture, landscape architecture and interior design graduates — the school’s three professional programs — are gradually improving (although after 2007-08, the prospects could only improve). Our alumni and friends in professional practice convey this news to us more directly and are now eager to interview our graduates. To succeed professionally, students need more than technical competence or fluency in software. They need qualitative abilities in teamwork and collaboration; evaluative, judgmental skills in integrated design thinking and in determining and balancing multiple design priorities; and a high degree of oral and written proficiency in expressing the logic of design decisions to clients and communities. Graduates need to be prepared to work in the world — in all its political, economic and social complexity — with an awareness of those conditions and an optimism that design matters in that challenging context.
How do you train students to keep up with emerging technology in the workplace?
We train students in all our disciplines to do more than keep up; we work to prepare them to be wise and anticipatory designers, in part by not irrevocably binding them to one technology, whether manual or digital. We prepare students first to be intellectually, creatively fearless and agile with technologies, but also “close readers” of those potentials and the possible drawbacks. We emphasize a balanced approach of both hand drawing and modeling and digital techniques of representation and fabrication — and emphasize the power of the creative imagination and real experience that must truly animate and direct any employment of technology.
You spent a decade in Finland. What did you learn there that is important for Arkansas students?
That architecture and design can emerge — must emerge — from attention to place, climate and culture. That the design disciplines are interrelated and can be approached on the basis of common design principles. That architecture and design can contribute — must contribute — productively to cultural identity and quality of life. That an economy of means can lead to an intensification of meaning. That a small nation, or region, or state can produce great architecture and design of lasting, worldwide value.
What do you know now that you wish you knew in your 20s?
There is a great song with that line by the Faces. I don’t dwell on the choices that have ultimately brought me to this place and position; that was preparation for the activity I am asked to undertake now. But I do know now fully how transformative a good teacher can be for a student. I teach now in that spirit, encouraging students to take risks creatively and intellectually.
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