Who

Marino is an architect and interior designer who specializes in super-high-end retail spaces and super-high-end apartments.

Backstory

New York City native and Cornell grad Marino had early-career jobs at I.M. Pei's architecture firm and at Skidmore Owings Merrill. In 1978, he opened his namesake firm. His first client: Andy Warhol, who hired Marino to design his townhouse. (Marino was active with Warhol's Factory during the '70s.) Since then, he's amassed a residential client roster heavy on fashion tycoons and captains of industry—clients over the years have included Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Agnelli, Valentino, Giancarlo Giametti, Ron Perelman, and Donna Karan. He's also established himself as a leading designer of expensive fashion stores. Marino designed Giorgio Armani's flagship (as well as his home) and he was responsible for crafting Barneys' famous Madison Avenue home in the early '90s. (The modernist creation ended up costing the company more than $150 million, and helped bankrupt the business in the process.) Other notable projects have included restorations of Venice's famed Palazzo Sernagiotto; the lavish Costa Smeralda Yacht Club in Sardinia, owned by the Aga Khan; Christian Dior's flagship in the heart of Paris; and the New York Public Library.

Of note

Recent retail projects include the Fendi flagship on Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton branches on East 57th Street and in Hong Kong, and a glittering Chanel store in Tokyo's Ginza district. On the residential front, he designed financier Steve Schwarzman's 34-room, $30 million spread at 740 Park Avenue and shadowy financier David Martinez's 76th floor, $45 million duplex in the Time Warner Center. (A standout design flourish in the 12,000-square-foot duplex: a 15-foot reflecting pool.) Marino is now at work on 170 East End, a 16-story condo development on the East Side, which marks his first large-scale residential project. In 2007 he made his first foray into retail furniture, designing a collection for the high-end Italian manufacturer Poltrona Frau.

In person

A vitamin fanatic, Marino follows a very strict diet and he has a chef on hand to insure he eats just the right healthy foods. The motorcycle-riding designer is also an active bodybuilder, an interest that developed following an epiphany around his 50th birthday. (He now employs multiple personal trainers.) He isn't just a control freak when it comes to his diet and appearance: Marino has a reputation for being something of a despot around his 100-person office, too.

Personal

Marino's wife is Jane Trapnell Marino, a costume designer who worked on Beverly Hills 90210. The two have a teenage daughter, Isabel. Their East 57th Street apartment contains a raised stage used for recitals and mini-concerts.