John Ed and Isabel Anthony Make New Gift for Center's Fabrication Space

Russell Cothren

John Ed and Isabel Anthony take part in the November 2021 groundbreaking ceremony for the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation. The couple have made a new gift to support the future naming of a fabrication space in the center in honor of Dean Peter MacKeith.

University of Arkansas alumnus John Ed Anthony and his wife, Isabel, are contributing $2.5 million to support the future naming of a fabrication space within the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation in honor of Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design since 2014.

This gift supports the center by providing for the future naming of a 9,000-square-foot maker space the Peter Brabson MacKeith II Fabrication Workshop and Laboratory. This will be the center’s largest interior space, occupying most of the ground floor, and it will open out to the fabrication yard.

“We are incredibly grateful for the generous commitment and vision of the Anthony family,” said Mark Power, vice chancellor for advancement. “They have inspired collaboration and garnered the support of friends and benefactors to bolster the important initiatives in sustainable, Arkansas-sourced timber and wood design.”

The majority of the support for this new design research facility at the university was provided by private funds. In 2018, the Anthonys made the lead $7.5 million gift for the establishment of the center, which will have a primary focus on design innovation in timber and wood.

The Anthony Timberlands Center will serve as home to the Fay Jones School’s graduate program in timber and wood and as an epicenter for its multiple timber and wood initiatives. It will house the school’s existing design-build program and an expanded digital fabrication laboratory. The school is a leading advocate for innovation in timber and wood design.

This fabrication shop will be the heart of the building, as the largest and most active space. It will encompass a large central bay, with a metal workshop, seminar room and small digital lab nearby, as well as a dedicated space for a large CNC router. These spaces will be served by an overhead crane that runs on rails from the inside to the outside to move large equipment and assemblies in and out of the building.

“It is fitting that the fabrication space at the heart of the research center be named in honor of Dean Peter MacKeith and in recognition of his leadership on this transformational venture for the university and the state,” Power said.

Located in the university’s Art and Design District, the four-story, 44,800-square-foot center also will include studios, seminar and conference rooms, faculty offices, a small auditorium and a public exhibition space. The construction of the center began in September, with an anticipated completion date of fall 2024.

Anthony said that soon after MacKeith arrived in Arkansas more than eight years ago, MacKeith immediately saw potential for the state’s forests. The state is nearly 57 percent forested, with almost 12 billion trees of diverse species growing on nearly 19 million acres. MacKeith introduced Anthony, who is founder and chairman of Anthony Timberlands Inc., to the ways that mass timber products are being used in European construction in other parts of the world, including Finland, where MacKeith lived and worked for 10 years after initially going there as a Fulbright Scholar.

“He introduced not only me, but also the entire Arkansas forest products community, to concepts that were occurring all across the world,” Anthony said. “He did this almost single handedly. He formed committees; he made speeches; he incorporated his zeal into putting together groups of people to hear about these innovations that had not been introduced in America.”

Anthony knew these revolutionary approaches to construction were important for the United States, where “stick construction” with cut-to-size framing lumber has long prevailed. And despite the timber and wood products industry that has long thrived in this majority forested state, there had never been a focused effort on developments such as this. Plus, with attention increasingly directed to the environment and the future health of the planet, expanding ways to harness a renewable resource such as forest products is key.

With all of this, it made the most sense for a timber-focused research center to be located on the campus of the state’s flagship university. The university had already begun using mass timber and cross-laminated timber (CLT) in two recent projects: the University Libraries high-density storage annex and Adohi Hall, a new living-learning community residence hall.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic slowed construction and costs increased, Anthony said, the enthusiasm for the research center remains strong.

“There are few forest product laboratories in America, and only two or three are recognized,” Anthony said. “The teaching and development of new wood building techniques in architecture is not widespread.”

So, in addition to their initial gift to the new center, Anthony said that he and Isabel, with this second gift, want to specifically recognize MacKeith for bringing this concept to the state, to the timber and wood products industry and to the university.

“There’s just one person responsible for making this project happen — and it’s not me. It’s Peter MacKeith. And I can’t think of anything more appropriate than for the design and fabrication space of this building to be named in his honor,” Anthony said. “That’s what Isabel and I wanted to do because of his influence. And the enthusiasm shown by other donors to jump on board has been very encouraging.”

John Ed Anthony holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Sam M. Walton College of Business. He previously served on the U of A Board of Trustees and, in 2012, was inducted into Walton College’s Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Isabel, are included in the university’s Towers of Old Main, a giving society for the university’s most generous benefactors, as well as the Chancellor’s Society. 

About the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design: The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas houses undergraduate professional design programs of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design together with a liberal studies program. The school also offers a Master of Design Studies, with concentrations in health and wellness design, resiliency design, integrated wood design, and retail and hospitality design. The DesignIntelligence 2019 School Rankings Survey listed the school among the most hired from architecture, landscape architecture and interior design schools, ranking 10th, 14th and eighth, respectively, as well as 28th among most admired architecture schools.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas’ flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.