Meg Osman has authored a new piece for Fast Company focused on how data, technology and new markets will inform our efforts in the year ahead: A Futuristic Office Is Less Important Than An Office That’s Good For Workers | Co.Exist | ideas + impact The article references a new report from Glassdoor about America’s labor market and job trends that suggests “2016 was a landmark year for hiring” and that there are currently “5.85 million unfilled job openings in America” that translate to lost productivity and increased competition for talent. These realities make 2017 an exciting year for workplaces as organizations work to recruit, retain, train and empower their people. Below…

One of the more rewarding efforts our Chicago team has recently taken part in is the launch of Chicago Children’s Theater’s (CCT) Dream Box project. The project, launched in partnership with Kaboom! Play Everywhere, is a creative collaboration with three local schools to help Chicago’s youth envision the future of Chicago.

The 6th annual Meet & Match event in our Chicago office to develop strong partnerships between design professionals and non-profit organizations.

When certified in June 2011, A.E. Stevenson High School became the first LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) Gold high school. This certification recognizes the school’s commitment to responsible operations and maintenance processes, and reflects a deeper commitment to engaging the local community of stakeholders in environmental responsibility. CannonDesign provided the visioning, guidance and LEED project administration to ensure their diligent attention to green operations was recognized against a national sustainability benchmark. Unlike the more familiar LEED rating systems for new construction and commercial interiors, LEED-EBOM buildings must recertify periodically to demonstrate ongoing achievement. Stevenson re-certified Gold after five more years of consultancy. Learn more about our Sustainability…

In partnership with Chiaravalle Montessori School and Bulley & Andrews, CannonDesign is pleased to announce that Chiaravalle’s North Wing Addition has achieved LEED Platinum Certification. When replacing their 60-year-old gymnasium annex, Chiaravalle Montessori, a PK-8 school located in Evanston, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago with a population of roughly 75,000, seized a rare opportunity to design a Montessori building to meet the needs of their Montessori program. Community-based planning served as a catalyst to build student centered learning environments, which celebrate the Chiaravalle community and Montessori curriculum. Designed with abundant natural light and a focus on bringing nature inside, the new 19,000 sf North Wing expands Chiaravalle’s programming options…

Innovation isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a requirement for survival in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace. Not surprisingly, businesses of all scales – from start-ups to corporations – spend great capital and focus on increasing innovation in their organizations. Whether it’s disruptive innovation that changes the marketplace entirely, or incremental innovation that improves one product from another competitors’ offerings – innovation is fuel in the business world. In order to best instill an innovative culture, companies should consider the design of their office spaces and how they’re engineered to naturally spur the type of creative thinking that can turn an idea into a scalable innovation. It’s not enough to simply find an…

Katherine Czarnecki is the marketing manager for our healthcare practice. Learn about her day-to-day responsibilities and why she decided to choose a career in marketing.

Collaboration, flexibility, and variety are key to new outpatient spaces. In the most recent issue of Health Facilities Management, Jocelyn Stroupe, Director of Healthcare Interiors for CannonDesign, highlights some of the key considerations for designing collaborative ambulatory space. Citing the shift in outpatient care delivery models to be more responsive to patient-centered care and to support population health, Stroupe shared how more and more healthcare organizations are rethinking staff spaces to better facilitate collaboration and operational efficiency.  Key excerpts include: On In-Clinic Activity Spaces that facilitate in-clinic activity are potentially the most difficult workspaces to design because they need to accommodate many different functions. Input from many users is required to…

Workplace wellbeing is becoming a critical focus for organizations across every industry. The more we understand how our environment and habits are affecting our well-being (generally speaking our mental and physical health) and the more we realize that wealth and technology don’t necessarily make things better, the more we need to find creative solutions. Corporate well-being programs are one ubiquitous approach, but they almost always depend on voluntary participation, which can be modest. An alternative strategy involves taking a more holistic approach: using the design of the workplace to make work itself healthier. The media today is filled with grim news about our well-being. The average body mass index in…

“There is a more productive, fulfilling way to work. That’s the driving messages of the Chicago Tribune in its newest editorial, A Visit to the Office of the Future,  Would you like an expresso with that?”. The piece then outlines how design is helping evolve the workplace to make it better for employees, teams and organizations. Prior to writing the piece, members of the Chicago Tribune editorial team toured CannonDesign’s Chicago office to learn about leading-edge workplace solutions and ideas. As the piece notes, “(Our firm) uses our Chicago office as a testing site for new workplace strategies before it rolls them out to clients.” While CannonDesign’s team helped highlight several…