Marianne Cusato
Professor of the Practice
Director, Housing & Community Regeneration Initiative
Professor of the Practice
Director, Housing & Community Regeneration Initiative
Marianne Cusato is renowned for her work on innovative housing solutions for disaster recovery and workforce housing. She directs the School of Architecture’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative, a “think-and-do tank” that provides assistance to municipalities and nonprofit organizations to improve economic development by reimagining the built environment.
In addition to her work at Notre Dame, she is the partner in charge of design and development at Cypress Community Development Corp., a not-for-profit housing corporation dedicated to creating resilient and energy efficient homes that are also dignified and attainable. Cypress CDC’s built work includes the development 450 Katrina Cottages in Louisiana through FEMA funding, homes in the Florida Keys following Hurricane Irma, and homes in Sonoma County, California, following the 2017 wildfires.
Her honors include the Smithsonian Institute’s Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum’s 2006 People’s Design Award and the American Society of Interior Designers 2007 ASID Design for Humanity Award.