Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture

The Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization active in the area of computer-aided architectural design (CAAD).

Mission statement
Begun in 1981, the organization's objectives are recorded in its bylaws:

"'ACADIA was formed for the purpose of facilitating communication and information exchange regarding the use of computers in architecture, planning and building science. A particular focus is education and the software, hardware and pedagogy involved in education.'"

"'The organization is also committed to the research and development of computer aides that enhance design creativity, rather than simply production, and that aim at contributing to the construction of humane physical environments.'"

Membership
Membership is open to anyone who subscribes to the objectives of the organization, including architects, educators, and software developers, whether resident in North America or not. An online membership registration form and directory is available via the organization.

The organization is primarily governed by the elected Board of Directors. The organization is led by the elected President, who presides over Board of Directors meetings, but does not vote except in the case of a tie.

Annual conference
ACADIA sponsors an annual national conference, held in the autumn of each year at a different site in North America. Papers for the conferences undergo extensive blind review before being accepted for presentation (and publication). Membership is not a prerequisite for submission of a paper.

Proceedings
Each year the conference papers are gathered into a proceedings publication which is distributed to members, and available to the public via the open access database CumInCAD.

Awards
Started in 1998, ACADIA Awards of Excellence are "the highest award that can be achieved in the field of architectural computing". The awards are given in areas of practice, teaching, research and service, with at most one award in each category per year. Past awards have recognized various significant contributors to the field of architectural computing.

The current awards given annually or biannually are the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Digital Practice Award of Excellence, the Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence, the Innovative Research Award of Excellence, the Society Award for Leadership, and the Teaching Award of Excellence.

History
ACADIA was founded in 1981 by some of the pioneers in the field of design computation including Bill Mitchell, Chuck Eastman, and Chris Yessios. Since then, ACADIA has hosted over 40 conferences across North America and has grown into a strong network of academics and professionals in the design computation field.

Sister organizations
There are four sister organizations around the world to provide a more accessible regional forum for discussion of computing and design. The major ones are
 * CAADRIA - The Association for Computer Aided Architectural Design in Asia, since 1996.
 * SIGraDi - Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics, since 1997.
 * ASCAAD - The Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design, since 2001.
 * eCAADe - The Association for Education and Research in Computer-Aided Architectural Design in Europe.

Other related organizations

 * CAAD Futures - Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures, since 1985.
 * CUMINCAD - The Cumulative Index of Computer Aided Architectural Design, with public CumInCAD records available via an Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) feed and records are available via multiple bibliographic archives and citation indexes online.