This memorial website is in memory of Peter KJÆR, director of the NC State European Center in Prague from 2014-2018,  by his former NC State colleagues. Please share your tribute and notes for his family.

We are saddened by the loss of Peter Kjaer, who served as director from 2014-2018. He passed away in March 2021 in his home country Denmark surrounded by his family.

Peter was a visionary with charisma and great enthusiasm. He emphasized the need for architecture and design students to become sensitive to social issues. In his four years leading NC State European Center, he introduced new courses such as Sociology, Astronomy, Curatorship, Set Design, and User Experience Design, expanding the course catalog.

Peter truly believed in interdisciplinarity. He created a space where students could learn from each other's disciplines. Students were not the only ones to be inspired by Peter Kjaer. As English Instructor Blanka Maderova shared, Peter would "foster their inner personal development and growth" and "create a pleasant and friendly working environment," adds Irena Bujarkova, drawing and etching instructor. 

An energetic man with a creative mind, Peter thrived in social gatherings and in meetings with students. Before coming to the Prague Institute, Peter Kjær was a well-known Danish architect with international experience in developing and managing architectural education. He had also served as the rector for the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark and the founding rector of the Umea School of Architecture in Sweden.

In 2017, the Prague Institute became a  unit of the Office of Global Engagement and was renamed the NC State European Center in Prague. Kjær was instrumental in that transition, and we owe him credit for moving the location of the school to the center of the city off the Old Town Square. The NC State Prague building offers incoming students an exceptional place in Prague and a fabulous space to study.