Synergy: a combined, or cooperative, interaction among parts, where the multiplying effect is greater than the sum of the parts and unpredicted by the behavior of the parts taken separately. Deriving from the Greek word “synergia”—meaning, “a working with”—synergy describes the capacity of two forces, persons or structures of information to optimize one another and achieve mutual enhancement.

Donato Design & Development is the brainchild of Umberto J. Donato, an architect/engineer who gained the respect of his professors at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his non-conventional thinking and his passionate defense of his ideas.

Having recognized the need earlier, during his days at Tulane University, for a more effective method for capital project delivery and for a wider role for design professionals, Umberto started to envision the creation of a company offering fully integrated services for capital project development, where design and construction were thought of as a unified process, and where the perceived gap between architects and engineers could be bridged.

He visualized a firm with a cohesive, client-centered work environment, where team members, clients and suppliers could collaborate in projects, synergistically, connected by the power of emerging communication and computer technologies.

Driven by a strong desire to contribute to his native Puerto Rico’s development and to integrate into his work his concern and sense of responsibility towards the environment, Umberto returned to the island after obtaining his Master’s at M.I.T., acquiring valuable work experience on the mainland and bypassing lucrative work offers from his employers there.

Encountering less resistance to his ideas than he had anticipated—even from executives long accustomed to doing business along traditional lines—Umberto rapidly built a track record of positive results for his early clients, which in turn continues to attract other clients to the firm. His vision had become concrete reality.

Today, working side by side with an enthusiastic group of design and construction industry professionals and support staff, and handling over $75 million dollars in projects, Donato Design & Development is not just a firm with a bright future, but a firm that has as one of its goals to help shape a brighter future for Puerto Rico, and wherever in the world our work takes us.