Marla Echeverria Sumner
A designer practicing in Louisiana, she has both domestic and
international experience in commercial and residential projects in both
the private and public sector. Her career started in Los Angeles
working for HKS Architects which enabled her to work on her first
hospitality project for Ian Schrager Hotels and Philip Stark. This
catapulted her to the casino industry in Las Vegas and was one among a
talented group of designers that helped establish the Wynn Resorts
brand. During a time of disaster in New Orleans, she was relocated to
complete work on the Harrah's New Orleans Hotel which was in
mid-construction when Katrina hit. The hotel opened a year later on the
one year anniversary and was the first completely new structure of its
type to open since the hurricane. Moving further east she was asked to
join WATG in Orlando where she worked on a condo/hotel project in Latin
America for Trump International. After being away for 2 years she
realized she had fallen in love with New Orleans and returned to
contribute to the built environment of the city. Most recently she has
honed in her talents on strategy, design and development management,
where she and her husband established the New Orleans chapter of
Architecture for Humanity. Marla is an active participant in the
building industry, and advocate of sustainable design and mentor to the
next generation of architects and designers. She is licensed in the
state of Louisiana.