Carli Sekella

Principal | Senior Architect

Carli Sekella, AIA, NCARB helps clients identify their root issues, whether they are facility shortcomings or program requirements. Many building owners and users have turned to Carli to help translate their wants into realistic project goals, as well as to lead community engagement efforts that help build grassroots support for projects.

Carli also serves as director of Legat’s Columbus, Ohio studio. She assigns staff and oversees progress to ensure that each project addresses the client’s needs while finishing on time and within budget.

One higher education client’s budget was incompatible with the renovation it envisioned. Carli narrowed down the client’s want: a high-tech, showcase space. She then steered the client toward a phased approach with more minimal finishes (e.g., painted ceilings instead of acoustical tile, stained concrete floors instead of carpet or tile in some areas, exposed cable raceways). The result: a partial renovation brought the university a showcase space. Additionally, the flexibility of the phased approach has enabled the client to refine its plan for phase two.

Carli also helps clients achieve more logical layouts. For instance, a client wanted to modernize a recreation center. Carli pointed out that the existing layout forced users to walk through a gymnasium to get from one side of the building to the other. She proposed adding a corridor around the gym—this allowed for a new, better-controlled main entry and a more contemporary look.

Since 2010, Carli has volunteered as a judge for “Future City Ohio,” a middle school engineering competition.

Carli earned a Master of Architecture degree from Boston Architectural College and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University.