Michelle Acosta, AIA

Michelle Acosta, AIA, ACHA, EDAC is a Senior Project Manager and Associate at SmithGroup in Phoenix, AZ. She graduated with a B.S.D. in Architectural Studies from Arizona State University in 2005 and immediately embarked on a career in healthcare design. At age 25 she became a Registered Architect and went on to serve as a Project Architect and Medical Planner on large acute care and outpatient projects in the western United States and the Middle East.

She was elected 2016 chapter president of AIA Pasadena & Foothill and represented the chapter on AIA California’s Board of Directors. The theme of her presidency was “Building Bridges”, focusing on the mentorship and development of emerging professionals to help fill the void that was left in the industry due to the economic downturn of 2008.

In 2016, Michelle returned to Phoenix as a Project Manager in SmithGroup’s health studio. In this capacity, she has led an integrated team of architects, engineers, interior designers, and landscape architects on mostly large-scale projects totaling upwards of a million square feet of built work and over a million square feet of master planning.

Michelle was the recipient of the 2018 AIA Young Architects Award. Her national AIA involvement has continued since then, helping to pilot the ‘Align’ mentoring program with the College of Fellows and serving as a juror for the 2020 Architecture Awards and the prestigious 25 Year Award. Most recently, Michelle was honored by Encyclopedia Britannica in January 2021 as one of “20 Young Shapers of the Future Under 40” in the architecture and engineering category. She is board certified in healthcare architecture by the American College of Healthcare Architects and is also an Evidence Based Design Accredited Professional.