Marianne Graffam

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture

Marianne is a licensed Architect and Interior Designer who believes architecture and design are the art of storytelling realized in our inhabitable environment. Originally born in Seoul, South Korea, she grew up in Ocala, Florida. After attending Tulane University, School of Architecture, and spending parts of her career in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, and Honolulu, Hawaii. Marianne spent over a decade in New Orleans practicing architecture with Mathes Bierre Architects, Sizeler Thompson Brown Architects, and EskewDumezRipple Architects, and is currently the Senior Facilities Planner at LSU Health Science Center – New Orleans. She has achieved her certification as a Healthcare Interior Designer (CHID) and her Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC). Marianne has also received her American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) certification, one of fourteen in the state of Louisiana.

Marianne is a proud proponent that architecture and design are a scientific experiment, one in which the rigor of the scientific process can be applied to address design problems and test hypotheses, achieving outcomes that are not only aesthetically pleasing but functionally beautiful.
In the community, Marianne has participated in build days with Habitat for Humanity, Women Build, ReBuilding

Together/October Build, unCommon Construction, and the Second Harvest. She served on the Southwest Washington AIA board, was a founding member of the Emerging Leaders Group in Tacoma, and was honored as one of South Puget Sound's 40 Under 40 Honorees in 2010. She has served as the city organizer for PechaKucha Night in Tacoma and New Orleans and has helped curate nearly 30 events. Locally, she has also been engaged with the Women in Architecture New Orleans Chapter, served on the unCommon Construction Board, and held the positions of Vice President on the New Orleans AIA board and Secretary on the AIA Louisiana State Board.