Marcel Wisznia’s dedication to New Orleans is visible from the ground up. An entrepreneur, community leader, developer, architect, risk taker, trendsetter, Wisznia has worked throughout his career to better the community. After graduating from Tulane School Of Architecture in 1973, Marcel opened his own practice, which has been in business and developing young design talent since. His firm, Wisznia Architecture + Development, has redefined the role of the traditional architect by entering the development arena to create a unique brand. In his 37 years of practice, Wisznia has stood for economic, physical, and social development with a conscience.
Wisznia ‘s unique point of view combining beauty and function has been applied over the years to developments of every sort: residential structures, parks, airports, commercial buildings, and chapels. In 2000, Wisznia decided to change the focus of the business to 75 per cent real estate development and 25 per cent architecture and devote his development efforts in New Orleans. The firm ‘s motto is “Design Driven Development.” Wisznia currently is focusing on the re-development of the Central Business district through mixed-use (commercial / residential) rehabilitation of historic structures, such as The Maritime and The Saratoga buildings with combined project costs of more than $95million, which will a bring 293 residential rental units to downtown. The Saratoga Building has been a special case– a mid-century international style building. Wisznia worked hard to convince stakeholders that mid-century architecture has historic value and is worth protecting, winning an important victory for the preservation of an entire generation of architectural design.
A founding member of the Consortium for Redevelopment. Wisznia remains active in service of his alma mater, serving as Chair of the Advocacy Committee of the Dean ‘s Advisory Board of the Tulane School of Architecture and is currently serving as President-Elect of the New Orleans chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He will be President when the 2011 national AIA convention will be held in New Orleans with 20,000 to 25,000 participants expected. As past president of Chevra Thilim Synagogue Wisznia negotiated the merger of two conservative synagogues, Chevra Thilim and Tikvat Shalom, into a single community, Shir Chadash.