Parke MacDowell

B.A. in Engineering and Studio Art, minor in Cultural Anthropology, Dartmouth College

M.Arch, University of Michigan

Parke MacDowell is an Adjunct Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech and a Project Architect at Payette.

Parke established the supercharged model shop and FabLab, as well as a comprehensive employee training program, after joining Payette in 2015. Payette’s personality today revolves around fabrication. Parke has worked as a member of design teams on a variety of projects, including the Northeastern University Pedestrian Crossing (PedX), the Fifth Xiangya Hospital, and the Hengqin Innovation Center, where his inquiries into design and fabrication were implemented on a large scale with optimal effect.

Parke led Payette’s pro bono work for Beyond Walls in Lynn, combining civic activism, management skill, and superb design. These inspiring projects—Underpass Lighting, WaSH, and FoLD—had a direct effect on Lynn’s citizens and were widely recognized with multiple design awards. Parke has written articles, delivered lectures, organized exhibitions, appeared as a design critic and won individual professional awards. He also co-founded the BSA Learning Community MKR|MGR.