Building community
the CannonDesign way

At the center of every CannonDesign project is the desire to impact a community—whether it's families and medical teams in a remote children's hospital, or neighbors working together to address climate change. We're committed to making our communities stronger, more equitable, and better positioned for tomorrow's challenges through our Open Hand Studio and culture of volunteerism. These stories reflect some of the work we've done recently to better our world.

Better access to maternal care and resources in St. Louis

Our St. Louis office helped transform a former physician office building into an Equal Access Midwifery Clinic for Black communities in need of maternal and infant resources and care.

Improving neighborhoods through community planning

We worked to develop guidelines for the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor in Baltimore, MD. Once implemented, these guidelines will encourage an improved quality of life, an economic boost to business, higher property values for property owners and overall beautification for the area.

Empowering kids at camp

We created two simple and flexible cabin designs for a YMCA camp in Huguenot, NY. The camp promotes diversity and inclusion, allowing campers to learn the importance of shared values and friendships which can last lifetimes. These new cabins will enhance the experience for campers and counselors alike.

Taking a day to give back

CannonDesign offices across the world volunteered their time and expertise to address immediate needs in our communities. We helped over 30 nonprofit organizations for our first annual Community Service Day. We collected some amazing stories of hard work and giving back.

Bowie and backpacks

Our Denver office donated 44 backpacks for the “Stuff the Bus” campaign to help local homeless students. Bowie the office dog and team were proud to support such a great cause.

Bringing HOPE to pediatric cancer patients in Africa

We are working with an amazing network of organizations to improve the survival rates for children with cancer and blood disorders by building treatment facilities and educating healthcare professionals.

For Cook County’s Bond Court, a design with dignity

Bond hearings are typically complicated and hurried. With the number of in-person parties required per case, the courtroom is busy and overcrowded. Cook County’s facilities needed a major redesign in order to ensure a smoother and more dignified, fair and equitable process for all.

Increasing awareness and promoting diversity in architecture

This award-winning program pairs working professionals and public school teachers to develop entire lesson plans through the lens of architecture—exposing students to a different way of thinking, learning and problem-solving.

Preparing for the effects of climate change

For over a decade, our week-long Environmental Awareness Week seeks to educate and prompt important conversations about how design can create solutions to our rapidly changing world.

Golfing at the gallery

Set within the second-floor Sheldon Art Galleries in Grand Center in St. Louis, MO, the interactive exhibition blends art, architecture and family fun into a playful, accessible mini golf course. Dubbed the “Warped Tour,” our St. Louis designers used computational modeling to create their course to have just right angle to get the ball onto a complex warping surface and, hopefully, into the hole.

Revitalizing a community center for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago

With a vital need to support youth and families in the Near West Side community of Chicago, we have teamed with a number of organizations to enhance and expand programming so it will serve its intended mission to be a hub of hope and opportunity.

Engaging a community to build for the future

In preparing vacant neighborhood lots for new houses, Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis relied on our Open Hand Studio team to engage in community dialogue, build alignment, and identify solutions. Our support would help reconcile Habitat for Humanity requirements with homeowner and neighbor input while building a sustainable site plan for future use.

ClimaTeens share resilient design ideas for Boston

Our Boston office collaborated with the New England Aquarium’s educational program, ClimaTeens, to come up with design solutions for a local Boston park that is threatened by the effects of climate change. The boards were displayed at the Aquarium during the Boston Design Week.

Designing a more diverse industry

We are unrelenting in our commitment to dismantling the systems that perpetuate inequity. We celebrate humanity’s beautiful differences and are committed to ensuring our practice is equitable for all and representative of the diverse communities we serve.

Architecture in Schools inspires young designers

We’re bringing hands-on design activities to DC-area students, who learn the fundamentals of design and together build pyramids, tree houses, aqueducts, sustainable cities and more. Parents, teachers and volunteers often take part, too!

Building communitythe CannonDesign way