Marilyn Archer

Emerita Fellow, International Interior Design Association
LEED Accredited Professional, Interior Design + Construction
Founding member, Texas Asociation for Interior Design
Alumna: 1980, B.F.A., Interior Design, cum laude

About

As a design professional with over 35 years of experience, Marilyn retired as a principal at Gensler in 2017 after leading the firm's Global Professional Services Practice for over a decade and directing an award-winning design studio. Following her international experience with Gensler, she established her design studio and continues to work with many of her previous clients.

Marilyn is well-recognized in the architectural design community. She remains actively involved by serving on various boards, including the International Interior Design Association, the American Society of Interior Designers, the Rice Design Alliance, the Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston, and the College of Visual Arts and Design.

During her 30-year career with Gensler, Marilyn guided legal, accounting, consulting, and private equity clients in designing their offices. She was a sought-after speaker and thought leader who co-led the development of Gensler’s groundbreaking "ReDesign Law: The Legal Office of the Future" exhibition at the 2014 Annual ALA Conference and Exposition in Toronto. This exhibit, the culmination of over two years of research, aimed to define the law office of the future and received the coveted 2015 ALA IDEA Award for design innovation.

Recently, Marilyn was a featured speaker at the International ALA Conference in Los Angeles and an invited speaker at the first Strategic Technology Forum held in the United States, sponsored by ALM. Her other speaking engagements include numerous presentations at NeoCon in Chicago, IIDEX Canada in Toronto, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

In the News

Although the "The First Metal: Arts & Crafts Copper" exhibition curated by Marilyn Archer at the University of Oregon closed in November 2024, its exploration of copper metalwork in the Arts and Crafts movement lives on in a catalog of the same name. Archer developed the exhibition in collaboration with Margo Grant Walsh, the primary collector, and co-edited the 96-page publication with Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Director John S. Weber and scholar Mary Greensted. The book features works from Walsh’s collection, along with select loans from private and institutional sources, and highlights hand-wrought copper by leading metalsmiths of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Britain, the United States, and beyond. View the exhibition on YouTube. Congratulations, Marilyn!