Nova Southeastern University’s Center for Collaborative Research Awarded LEED Gold Certification

ACAI Associates is pleased to announce that their design work for the newly constructed Center for Collaborative Research (CCR) at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) has received LEED Gold certification, a top honor recognizing green build initiatives, by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). As a third-party non-profit organization, USGBC developed LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, to help owners and builders design, construct, operate and maintain environmentally responsible buildings and communities.

ACAI designed the 215,000-sq.-ft., six-story building to house wet and dry labs with collaborative spaces and set aside a...

Community involvement and education are two top priorities for the staff at ACAI Associates, a leading architectural firm in South Florida.    Adolfo Cotilla, president of ACAI, was a recent presenter at the Broward Education Foundation’s annual Hall of Distinguished Alumni. The event honors and recognizes alumni of Broward County Public Schools, who have returned as teachers or administrators.

“Our firm wanted to be a part of this because we admire those people who decide to return to their educational roots and give back,” says Cotilla. “It makes their contributions more significant because they are part of the fabric of our community.” 

ACAI staffers also give back by helping to educate young people.  “We are actively involved in...

 ACAI is excited to announce that it has launched their new website at www.acaiarchitects.com. The ACAI website has been redesigned from top to bottom to showcase ACAI’s scope of award-winning work and the company’s can-do culture, as well as to promote employment opportunities.

“The architectural industry is an exciting field. It’s evolving and challenging,” says Adolfo J. Cotilla, Jr., President of ACAI Associates. “With advancements in technology and materials, if you can imagine it, you can build it. That’s the message we want our new website to deliver.”

ACAI Associates has been in business since 1985. Much of its success is due to its culture of growth, respect and excitement in the workplace. ACAI fosters upward mobility through traini...

ACAI Associates provided the architectural services for the new Holocaust Reflection and Resource Room at Nova Southeastern University (NSU). The grand opening was held on Sunday, October 16, 2016 with 300 attendees, including Holocaust Survivors residing in South Florida, NSU staff and community leaders. The Holocaust Reflection and Resource Room is the first of its kind on any university campus in South Florida and was made possible by a generous donation from Craig and Barbara Weiner, co-founders of the nonprofit Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc. (HLEF) (www.Holocausteducationfund.com).

“We must strive to provide opportunities for our current generation and those of tomorrow to reflect on the horrific events of the Holocaus...

Adolfo J. Cotilla, Jr., founder and president of ACAI Associates, will be a guest speaker at the upcoming Glass+Metal Symposium on Friday, October 28 at the CROWNE PLAZA Tampa-Westshore in Tampa. Cotilla’s presentation about “Building Information Modeling (BIM)” will discuss how BIM can improve the design and construction process and offer efficiencies to general contractors and cost savings to building owners.

ACAI’s Technology Division was created in 2008 and specializes in BIM, as well as Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), for architects, engineers, contractors, developers, owners and building product manufacturers. BIM software has become ACAI’s

preference over traditional delivery CADD standards and provides better communication, des...

In the late 1970s, Adolfo Cotilla Jr. was working in a regional office in Boca Raton for an architecture firm based in Troy, Michigan. He was promoted to vice president within a year and a half, he said, only to later find himself out of a job when the firm shuttered the office.

Cotilla went to work for two other firms but soon realized he'd rather be on his own. In 1985, he started ACAI Associates, based out of his house in Sunrise. "There was no payroll," Cotilla said. "It was just me looking for work."

More than three decades later, ACAI has grown substantially, serving clients in the health care, education and transportation industries. Now based in Fort Lauderdale, the architecture and consulting firm has 33 employees, and it generated m...

ACAI’s interior work on the Nova Southeastern University - Dental Simulation Lab is recognized by American School and University magazine and awarded 2016 Outstanding Design for Healthcare Facilities / Teaching Hospitals.

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ACAI Associates has been named as the nation’s 16th largest architectural firm in Building Design+Construction (BD+C) magazine’s Giants 300 Architecture list in the Airport Terminal Sector. 

Every year, BD+C magazine releases rankings of the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the United States. The collection of lists, known as the ‘Giants 300 Report’, takes into consideration building-type revenue, BIM revenue, green building work, scope of work and much more. The Giants 300 Report was published in their July 2016 issue.

ACAI Associates is a leading South Florida-based full-service architecture firm. In 2015, ACAI Associates began programming, planning and design phases on two airport terminal projects totaling...

ACAI interior work on the Nova Southeastern University Palm Beach Gardens Point project is recognized by American School and University magazine and awarded the 2015 Outstanding Design for Welcome Centers and for Outstanding Designs for Administrative Areas/Office.

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ACAI’s interior work on the Nova Southeastern University - Institute of Neuro Immune Medicine is recognized by American School and University magazine and awarded the 2013 Outstanding Design for Interior Renovations.

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