The Micro City: A New Model for Workplace Design “A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.” Herb Caen Close your eyes and imagine your favorite city. New York. Paris. Istanbul. These cities, or any great city, invite a stroll, inspire new ideas, and offer a romantic serendipity of experiences in art, music, and conversation. Loud, exciting, active streets and plazas are balanced with quiet parks, cafes, and libraries. Taste their food, meet new people, see their sites, feel the energy. Would you ever think of a healthcare workplace this way?  For increased productivity, workplace wellness, and employee retention, you…

Our team recently had the opportunity to attend Bisnow’s 2019 National Healthcare South conference in late February. The event united a remarkable group of healthcare leaders from Houston and across Texas to share thoughts about what’s next for patients, providers, health systems and communities. There were numerous thought-provoking presentations our team was able to attend, and we’ve summarized some key takeaways from the event below. For each takeaway, we connect ideas around how design will play a role in supporting its impact in the future. Health Systems Recognize Consumers Pay for Value, Not Medical Events A dominant trend echoed multiple times during the Bisnow Summit is the impact consumerism is having…

When high school sophomore Brayan Perez began his internship in CannonDesign’s Baltimore office, he never knew how much his experience would influence his future. Brayan, a 4.0 student in his senior year at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, is now positioned to graduate with incredible college and university prospects. His unique three-year internship with CannonDesign has taught him not only technical skills in his desired field but also how to communicate with project teams and gain the confidence needed to conquer anything that comes his way. At Cristo Rey High School, students are required to participate in a Corporate Internship Program (CIP) where they can learn and grow through entry-level…

CannonDesign has a long and proud history of designing many of our national laboratories around the country. These facilities require an immense amount of expertise, attention and innovation to deliver exceptional solutions for our nation’s top scientists. Here are some of our top examples: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Spallation Neutron Source Second Target Station Expanding the capabilities of a facility that provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for an international user community. Read more > Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Chemical and Material Sciences Building Unique sustainable strategies for this building include a photovoltaic array, light shelves, operable windows, and hybrid solar lighting – a technology developed at ORNL. Read…

If you walk the sustainability talk on your campus you are likely familiar with the AASHE’s STARS program or similar sustainability/greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reporting mechanisms. Our goal is to assist you through an existing NYSERDA funding opportunity through December 2019 (REV Campus Challenge Technical Assistance for Roadmaps) to boost these energy and carbon tracking efforts. We call it ICECAP – a collaborative effort between a partner organization and us to create a data-driven, interactive and comprehensive energy/carbon action plan leading to carbon neutrality. Unlike traditional masterplans, we dive deep into granular energy/carbon data at building and campus levels to identify reduction strategies and responsible parties. This process involves several…

A proven leader in the world of cancer care, Mara Bloom, executive director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General) Cancer Center, rarely sits still. Celebrated for her passion and nonstop energy, it’s not uncommon for Mara to fit 50-plus meetings into 60-hour work weeks, during which she tirelessly helps her colleagues and teams to advance next-generation paradigms of cancer care. In her role, she oversees all clinical and research operations at all Mass General cancer facilities, including the main campus and satellite and affiliate sites. We were extremely grateful that Mara recently took time from her busy schedule to share remarkable expertise and ideas around the future of cancer…

If you ever ask Kate St. Laurent to show you her resume or credentials as a lighting designer, don’t be surprised if she asks you to go for a late-night drive in and around Boston. The “proof” that Kate excels as a stand-out architectural lighting designer surrounds the region and echoes in signature pieces of its built environment – the Novartis Institute’s BioMedical Research Campus, multiple Brigham and Women’s Hospital medical office buildings, Wellesley College’s Alumnae Hall*, UMASS Dartmouth Carney Library*, Wegmans in Natick, and Nantucket Cottage Hospital, to name just a few. The lights that illuminate these spaces and dot the night sky originated in Kate’s and her Lighting…

As designers, we are incredibly fortunate to do what we love every day — to help organizations around the world leverage design to grow their missions, help their people, enrich their communities and so much more. As we look toward our future in 2019, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past year and share some of our proudest accomplishments. ARCHITECT 50 ranked CannonDesign #4 The ARCHITECT 50 is the premier industry ranking for US-based architecture firms, and we are thrilled to have ranked #4 overall and #12 in design as part of the 2018 report. This ranking differentiates itself from others by measuring firms not by…

Rising 22 stories high and four floors below ground, the new Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) is the largest hospital in Quebec and contains one of the largest cancer treatment centers in Canada. The extensive size and scope of the cancer treatment center is designed to respond to the increasing demand for cancer services in Montreal, Quebec, and across Northeast Canada and the Maritimes. While the building design and its size are unique and impressive on their own, the way care is delivered within the cancer center, and the breakthroughs in research, are also hallmarks of the cancer care philosophy at CHUM. We’ve highlighted three ways CHUM is…

It’s no secret that the work of an engineer is demanding. We are responsible for translating dreams into realistic and functional projects. For keeping up on the latest trends in technology, materials, energy and security, while hitting deadlines and meeting client demands. For maintaining a positive attitude while anticipating worst-case scenarios and for creating safeguards to ensure they don’t occur. Our work is certainly not a nine to five job, and we have a lot to try and fit into a 24-hour day. But while the work is important and understandably takes priority, it’s also crucial that we make time to stay engaged in the industry we belong to, and the…