What is your name, current location, and current occupation?
Mackenzie Muhonen, Los Angeles / Orange County CA, Senior Visual Designer at Airbnb (Experiential Creative Product team)
What was your affiliation with MIT?
I’m an M.Arch (2019) alumna.
What was your thesis title, if you completed one?
Low Fidelity
What are you doing today?
I’m currently the lead designer for the Experiential Creative Product team at Airbnb. It’s a team focused on developing the Experiences product of Airbnb. My position is a departure from practicing architecture, but I still use my architectural training every day. At present, I am currently on maternity leave (just had my first child on November 21!).
Do you think your career path has been nontraditional?
My career path has definitely been non traditional. When I graduated from MIT, I worked in the visualization industry, and focused entirely on 3D modeling and rendering. I was hired to be a viz artist on Airbnb’s Samara team, before Samara separated from Airbnb. I ended up staying at Airbnb after Samara broke away from the company, and my role changed to be a more generalist designer rather than a hyper-specific 3D visualization artist. I’ve just followed my interests and seen where they take me, which perhaps has resulted in an unorthodox ‘architecture’ career.
How did your time at MIT affect your career path?
My time at MIT taught me the relevance, applicability, and value of an architectural education across disciplines. There is so much value in the rigorous (and oftentimes exhausting!) training that goes into an architectural education. I find myself using the training I received every day, especially with ‘design thinking’ becoming increasingly popular in non-architectural workplaces.
What are you excited about in your career field today?
Within my current position, I’m excited about the opportunities to introduce meaningful design into products that reach a large and diverse audience.
How can fellow alums reach you if they want to speak further?
I can be reached over email: mackenzie.muhonen@airbnb.com