Marvin Sevely (born 14 November 1919 in Manhattan, New York City - 2 December 1973 in New Orleans, Louisiana) was an American architect, planner, and professor. He was the son of concert violinist Jeno Sevely and his wife, Diana. He married Josephine Lowndes, with whom he had 2 children.  

Sevely attended Cardozo Senior High School in Washington DC, where he was on the debate team, served as a Senate Page, and completed an internship with the Smithsonian. He also simultaneously completed a certificate in sculpture at the nearby Corcoran School of Art. At 16, he was selected as one of four outstanding DC students and received a full scholarship to the University of Virginia. Disillusioned with attitudes on campus, he transferred to George Washington University, but became dissatisfied with what he viewed as an antiquated approach then used in the architectural program.  

Increasingly concerned about conditions in Europe as WWII advanced, he took a leave of absence to work in naval architecture, soon joining Gibbs & Cox in New York, principal designers of US Navy ships. It was from there that he volunteered for active service upon news of the D-Day invasion. He was a mapper ('geographical draughtsman') and marksman to Col./Brig. Gen. Charles H. Karlstad, commander of Combat Command A of the 14th Armored Division, known as "The Liberators." 

After the war, he continued his military service in Paris where he was also able to resume architectural studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He had already been accepted to Harvard, having applied from the field after a particularly difficult battle in Germany. The following year, he returned to the USA and completed the architectural program at Harvard University in the Graduate School of Design, then under the leadership of Walter Gropius. In 1950, he led the first group thesis done at Harvard: The Redevelopment of Providence, Rhode Island. The thesis was widely publicized, adopted by the City of Providence as its masterplan, exhibited and published in CIAM 8 - The Heart of the City. 

At the time of his death, he had founded and was the Head of Graduate Studies in Architecture at Tulane University and was an Advisor to Mayor Moon Landrieu. Prof. Sevely had previously founded graduate and specialized architectural programs at Princeton University, Pratt Institute, the Architectural Association, and Virginia Tech. He was part of the 3-person team led by G. Holmes Perkins who founded the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey on behalf of the United States and the United Nations in the late 1950s.  

Influenced by his experience on the front lines during WWII and his mentor, Walter Gropius, much of his work focused on architecture and planning to address societal issues.  

He was the first non-policy, hands-on Ford Foundation Fellow rebuilding villages in the Nile Delta, work that contributed to inspiring Sargent Shriver's creation of the Peace Corps.  

He was an advisor on low-cost housing and design for climate, preparing reports and prototypes for the United Nations, Asia Foundation, the American Plywood Institute, Reynolds Aluminum, USAID, and others.  

In the early 1970s, Prof. Sevely became aware of discrepancies in conditions throughout the US prison system. He used his familiarity with government, garnered starting as a Senate Page during his Washington DC high school years, later in the military, and on diplomatic missions abroad, to personally lobby for reform. Authorized by Congress, he wrote the first national standards for prisons and reformatories, ensuring the physical conditions of incarceration were to be equal across the country. He was particularly concerned about juvenile detention conditions. 

His concerns also led to work with American Indian leaders, including Russell Means and Dennis Banks, to improve tribal communities from within and similar efforts in Appalachia. 

In Louisiana, he saw that access to waterways, especially the Mississippi River, was restricted to businesses. While he didn't oppose commercial use, he researched applicable laws and prevailed in rulings that opened access to the general public as well. This led to work developing the riverfront in New Orleans including the Moonwalk, bike trails and exercise courses on the levees, and other citizen access.  

Concerned about discrepancies between architectural education and practice, Prof. Sevely obtained NEA matching grant funds for innovative practice-oriented coursework at Tulane to involve students in developing designs for the City's development of the New Orleans Riverfront.  

Throughout his career, he also advanced innovative material and design concepts, participating in the development of standardized curtain wall and prefabrication methodologies, especially for housing. 

Trained in both traditional architecture and Modernism, he embraced the beauty and appropriateness of indigenous building, advocated for place-based design, respect for historical structures and districts, and the incorporation of art in architecture, especially for public spaces. He brought this to fruition with his original design concepts and project advocacy for the Piazza d'Italia in New Orleans, a project completed posthumously by his friend and colleague, Charles Moore working with August Perez' office, the firm with which Sevely had been associated at the time of his unexpected death. 

Sevely was a student and protege of Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Le Corbusier, Buckminster Fuller, and Siegfried Giedion as well as a colleague of I. M. Pei, Paul Rudolph, Ian McHarg, and many others. In his own autobiography, McHarg lamented Sevely's premature death and consequent absence from the field. Sevely taught architecture for more than 20 years with many of his students going on to make significant contributions as educators and practice leaders who have continued and extended his work.