CannonDesign grows by broadening its service portfolio

In recent years, CannonDesign has been moving toward what its CEO Brad Lukanic calls a “wider definition” of an AE firm, one that incorporates “design-adjacent services” which connect the firm with its clients beyond the project’s design and construction phases through its life cycle.

“We’re looking for a 30-year relationship” with clients, says Lukanic, whom BD+C interviewed last week. In this process, CannonDesign is being remade “for the next 100 years” through refinement of its strategic organization, supplemented with new talent.

Since being promoted to his current position in 2016, Lukanic has been leading his firm through five-year “frameworks.” Much has changed over these time periods, most recently the rising presence of artificial intelligence (AI) and “micro-economic pressures” that AEC firms must adapt to.

CannonDesign’s omnichannel approach to delivering solutions across industries manifested itself in 2019, when the firm acquired Blue Cottage Consulting, “creating a broader continuum of services for the firm’s healthcare segment,” according to Healthcare Design magazine at the time of the deal.

Strategic expansion

This acquisition could be seen as an element of the firm’s Living Centered approach to design that CannonDesign established in 2021. That same year, the firm also formed Facilities Optimizations Solutions, a professional services and software consultancy whose functions include facility assessments, capital planning, asset tagging, cost estimating, and job order contracting.

More recently, CannonDesign last year merged with SRG Partnership, an architecture, interiors, and planning practice founded in 1972. Lukanic says CannonDesign was drawn to SRG’s expertise in sustainability, climate resilience, and design excellence. (Two of SRG’s projects won awards at the AIA conference in Boston earlier this month.)

Last April, CannonDesign merged with The Clarient Group, a smart-buildings consultant. “This merger strengthens our vision that defines human-led experiences and operational workflows that inform smart solution design,” said Lukanic in a prepared statement.

Lukanic tells BD+C that his acquisition strategy follows the mantra “fail fast, fail often”; in other words, even failure can be beneficial. He points, by way of example, to CannonDesign’s 2019 launch of ModularDesign+, which delivered panelized wall systems, non-structural pods, and structural volumetric modules. While CannonDesign’s investment dollars ultimately took another path, Lukanic says that ModularDesign+ was a “really good exploration” that lent insight into how design-assist services needed to evolve.

Building a stronger bench

Right now, CannonDesign is in growth mode. Lukanic says the firm is likely to make at least one more acquisition in 2025. CannonDesign also has been rounding out its executive management team via promotions and new hires.

In May, the former Sasaki CEO James Miner joined CannonDesign as Executive Director-East Region. Lukanic says Miner is helping CannonDesign reorganize the operations of its18 offices with a regional approach to providing services. Barbara Bouza, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, is now CannonDesign’s Executive Director-Market Strategies + Growth—Live/Work/Play. Lukanic observes that Bouza’s hire reflects how different design practices have been “bleeding into” one another.

Aaron Call, CannonDesign’s new Executive Director-Market Strategies + Growth—Incubate +Launch, will explore business and service opportunities for possible expansion. Call previously founded Jaunt, a MedTech consultancy, among other startups.

A CannonDesign spokesman says the firm is in hiring mode, and is focusing on people with skills in technology, sustainability, and data visualization. Lukanic adds that in an uncertain environment, CannonDesign sees opportunities in expanding its design adjacencies and in tech integration. The challenge, he says, for AEC firms will be keeping up with “the second order of development” in tech.