About Us
Cusato Cottages, LLC was founded by Marianne Cusato to provide designs for dignified affordable housing, both on the Gulf Coast and throughout the United States. Design makes a difference.
MARIANNE CUSATO is an expert in the field of architectural design. Her work focuses on the elements of good design in homes and communities, and how design impacts the quality of our lives and the sustainability of the earth's resources.
Ranked the No. 4 most influential person in the home building industry in Builder Magazine's annual “Power on 50” list, Cusato and her design principles are changing the landscape of the housing industry. In 2006, the Smithsonian Institute's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum honored Cusato with the first annual “People's Design Award.” Cusato leads a team of designers that have partnered with Lowe's in a licensing agreement to sell the plans and material packages for the Lowe's Katrina Cottage Series. In June 2006, Congress appropriated $400 million for an alternative emergency housing program, based on the idea of the Katrina Cottage.
She is the author of two books, “Get Your House Right, Architectural Elements to Use and Avoid,” with Ben Pentreath, Richard Sammons and Leon Krier, foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales and “The Value of Design: And its Impact on our Lives and Communities” with James Hardie Building Products.
Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Cusato is a degree in Architecture from the University of Notre Dame and is currently based in New York's Greenwich Village.