What c|a ARCHITECTS does

c|a architects is a privately held healthcare architecture firm founded in 1992 and headquartered in Long Beach, California, with a second office in San Diego. The firm specializes exclusively in the design of healthcare environments — including emergency departments, cancer centers, children's hospitals, women's health facilities, medical office buildings, diagnostic centers, inpatient pharmacies, and central utility plants — serving acute care hospitals, children's hospitals, medical centers, and integrated healthcare systems throughout Southern California. Its practice is built on five core service lines: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Infrastructure, and Lean Delivery, with a dedicated Infrastructure Studio handling complex mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems for healthcare campuses.

The firm operates as a project-based professional services practice with fees typically structured as a percentage of construction cost or fixed-fee arrangements. Its technology stack includes BIM (Building Information Modeling), Virtual Reality design visualization (deployed on the USC Research Suite project), and Lean project delivery methodology with pull planning and big-room coordination. Projects have ranged from 4,000 sq ft (Nuclear Medicine at CHOC) to 80,000 sq ft (Children's Village at Miller Children's and Women's Hospital Long Beach, which achieved LEED Gold certification and was featured as an HCD Magazine cover story). The team of approximately 40+ professionals holds certifications including AIA, ACHA, LEED AP, NCARB, EDAC, CHID, and CASp.

c|a architects' go-to-market is consultative enterprise field sales targeting healthcare system executives, facility managers, and clinical leadership through direct relationships, RFP responses, and long-standing client partnerships. A foundational partnership with Torrance Memorial has endured since 1992, and the firm maintains ongoing relationships with major Southern California healthcare systems including MemorialCare, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Kaiser Permanente, UCLA Health, UCI Health, Providence Health & Services, and Redlands Community Hospital. No revenue, funding, or M&A activity is publicly disclosed.

Name

c|a ARCHITECTS

Legal name

c|a architects

Website

https://c-aarchitects.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

c|a architects is a privately held healthcare architecture firm founded in 1992, headquartered in Long Beach, California, with a San Diego office. It exclusively designs healthcare facilities — including cancer centers, children's hospitals, emergency departments, and women's health pavilions — for hospital systems across Southern California.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Architecture Services

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Interior Design Services (54141)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB)

Keywords

• Healthcare architecture services
• Interior design services
• Master planning services
• Infrastructure design services
• Lean project delivery

Headquarters

HQ city

Long Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Healthcare Architecture Design Services: Professional services revenue from architectural design, interior design, planning, and infrastructure services for healthcare facilities. Projects include new construction, renovations, expansions, and specialized medical facility design (cancer centers, emergency departments, children's hospitals, etc.). Revenue is project-based with fees typically structured as percentage of construction cost or fixed fee arrangements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

c|a ARCHITECTS is a specialized healthcare architecture firm that delivers architectural, interior design, master planning, infrastructure (MEP) design, and Lean project delivery services exclusively for healthcare environments. The firm designs and renovates acute care hospitals, children's hospitals, cancer centers, women's health facilities, emergency departments, medical office buildings, diagnostic centers, and central utility plants for healthcare systems across Southern California.

Product overview

c|a architects is a healthcare architecture firm offering five core service lines: Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Infrastructure, and Lean Delivery. The firm operates specialized studios including an Infrastructure Studio and serves clients across major healthcare systems in Southern California. Projects span emergency departments, children's hospitals, cancer centers, women's health facilities, medical office buildings, diagnostic centers, and central utility plants. The firm was established in 1992 and has over 30 years of experience in healthcare design.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture
• Interior Design
• Planning

Quantifiable outcome

• Emergency Department capacity increased from 25,000 to 45,000 annual patient visits through optimized design
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GE HealthcarecoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaborated with GE Healthcare for extensive planning of the Cath Lab Suite at Placentia-Linda Hospital. GE Healthcare provided expertise for the Cath Lab equipment specification and layout planning as part of the comprehensive Cath Lab design.
• Torrance MemorialcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundational partnership established in 1992 when the firm was founded based on the belief and trust of Torrance Memorial. This partnership continues today, with c|a architects serving as ongoing design partner for Torrance Memorial campus development including Hunt Cancer Center, Multispecialty Complex, and other projects.
• Pickett Design AssociatesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInterior design collaboration for UCI Health Fashion Island clinic project. Pickett Design Associates created the interior design concept with unique material applications and intricate architectural details, which c|a architects translated into the existing building structure.
• Design-Build Team (Children's Village)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDesign-Build delivery method for Children's Village project incorporating lean concepts, pull planning across the entire team, big room coordination meetings, and full-sized mock-ups of nearly all treatment spaces.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HDR Architecture: Integrated design firm with one of the largest healthcare architecture practices in North America. Competes head-to-head on hospital, ambulatory, and academic medical center projects and brings engineering scale that c|a lacks.
• SmithGroup: Integrated design firm with a substantial healthcare and science & technology practice. Direct overlap in hospital, research, and ambulatory facility design with comparable emphasis on sustainability and Lean delivery.
• NBBJ: Major healthcare architecture practice with significant children's hospital and academic medical center work. Competes for large system master plans where c|a also bids (e.g., UCSF, UCLA, Cedars-Sinai affiliates).
• EwingCole: Boutique-to-mid-size East Coast firm with a strong healthcare specialty (children's hospitals, cancer, ambulatory). Same niche-specialization playbook as c|a, comparable firm scale and project types.
• Page (Page Southerland Page): Healthcare-focused architecture and engineering firm with strong academic medical center and children's hospital portfolios. Same vertical specialization and OSHPD-equivalent regulatory expertise, comparable scale to c|a.
• ZGF Architects: Design firm with a recognized healthcare practice (academic medical centers, cancer institutes). Comparable master planning, sustainable design credentials (LEED), and patient-centered design philosophy.
• CannonDesign: Blurred Lines-integrated practice with a healthcare arm covering children's hospitals, cancer centers, and medical office buildings. Comparable emphasis on evidence-based design (EDAC) and Lean methodology.
• Perkins&Will: Global healthcare architecture practice with deep children's hospital, academic medical center, and cancer center portfolios. Comparable end-to-end service offering (architecture + interiors + planning) targeting the same hospital system clients.
• HKS Architects: Large national architecture firm with a top-tier healthcare practice. Directly competes with c|a for hospital, ED, and cancer center commissions and shares the same OSHPD/regulatory-driven design focus at much larger scale.

Broad incumbents

• Stantec: Global design and engineering consultancy with healthcare architecture and infrastructure services. Broader portfolio than c|a but overlaps on hospital, medical office, and campus infrastructure work, and brings significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/c_aARCHITECTS
• Facebookfacebook.com/100055314672142
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/c-a-architects

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about c|a ARCHITECTS