News
BE LOCAL, ACT GLOBAL
June 15, 2010
| In April, Canon Design completed the master plan for Suzhou International Research Park in China, a 3,200-acre mixed-use city for 60k people. Now Hassan Gardezi and Stephen Johnson (below) are ready to start planning a 400-acre research and technology park in Sharjah, UAE, that merges education and economic development. We met up with them in the last place you'd expect: Boston. |
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| In the Suzhou research park, quads for engineering and medicine are blended together merging with indoor and outdoor spaces. Stephen notes that Cannon?s role isn't just planning, but working with US educational institutions to transport their intellectual firepower into China. Boston is the hub of Canon?s extensive international practice focused in China, India, and the Middle East. In each location, it has several projects going, often creating new communities on hundreds or thousands of acres. |
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| We snapped Catriel Tulian, Andre Aoun, Mark Mendell (head of the international practice), and Rick Hrycaj, who expect three years of construction to start this summer in Riyadh on the 800-acre King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, a 1.9M SF expansion of an integrated healthcare community. Not only does their Saudi Arabian client have the wealth to build a state-of-the-art medical center, Mark explains, they expect Cannon to deliver large, innovative projects very rapidly. Since speed is key, people in Shanghai work while employees in Boston or St. Louis sleep. |
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| We snapped Stephen, Lynne Deninger, Jennine Talbot,and Rick Kuhn doing what Cannon?s 1,000 architects, engineers, interior designers, and construction teams do daily—work remotely with colleagues spread over 17 offices around the globe. What's unique, says Stephen, is although ?we're in several locations, we operate as if we're in one place.? It's common for six Cannon offices in different time zones to work ?around the clock,? he says. What they learn from designing entire mixed-use communities oriented around a university or healthcare facility, for instance, ?provides ideas and thought leadership for the whole firm.? |
