How I Work: CannonDesign CEO Brad Lukanic
Brad Lukanic tries to set every day up for a creative trajectory. Design by Barbara Cadorna.
When asked about his tools of the trade, CannonDesign CEO Brad Lukanic says a concrete saw, jackhammer, and 240-piece socket set. Ok, those might be for the home remodel he is currently working on, but they aren’t that far off from the job of someone leading a 1,000-person architecture firm.
In their work, Lukanic and team are reimaging and reshaping some of the more important buildings that make up the fabric of society, including medical facilities, research labs, university centers, and school buildings. Recent design projects include the new Mayo Clinic facility in Minnesota, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab Building in Maryland, and a mass timber building for climate solution research at the California Institute of Technology.
Here, Lukanic takes us inside his workday, including rising at 4:30 a.m., why his dream studio is Central Park, and how his brightest idea that never saw the light of day involves combining existing LEGO sets to make new cities and buildings. (LEGO, he still has the idea so give him a call.)
For the California Institute of Technology, CannonDesign came up with a mass timber home for bold climate solutions. Images c/o CannonDesign.
1. Rise and Shine
I’m an early riser and I am very intentional with my morning time. I usually wake up by 4:30 a.m. and try to spend the first hour of the day alone in creative thought. I sit at our marble Saarinen table in our breakfast nook with a black coffee and watch the sunrise over our deck and backyard.
For that first hour, I do not look at emails or my calendar, I really focus on trying to think differently. I worry that if I begin my day with those tasks (responding to e-mails, etc.) then I set myself up for a task-based day. I want to set my day on as creative a trajectory as possible.
Eventually, our dog comes downstairs, and the boys wake and that quiet space yields to the day. I shift from alone time to family time and then to the emails, meetings and appointments that will mark my day.
2. Work Uniform
It depends on the day. Is it a nonstop, in-person meeting day? Will I mostly be in virtual meetings? Am I traveling? I consider all of this, but most days you are likely to find me in sneakers, jeans, a button-up shirt, and a jacket. CannonDesign’s culture is relaxed, and I lean into that. I also have a reputation for wearing all kinds of creative socks. Comic book characters, wise words, creative designs, and patterns – they are all fair game and I like to keep people guessing.
In the world of hybrid work, I also think of my different settings throughout the day as part of my uniform. Some meetings call for the library shelves. Others call for more natural light and a view of the backyard. I like taking meetings outside during warmer months.
CannonDesign is partnering with Foster + Partners and Mayo Clinic to realize two revolutionary new medical spaces for cutting edge healthcare. Photo by DBOX for Foster + Partners © 2023 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER).
3. How I Structure My Day
I really do believe the first 60 to 90 minutes in the morning can set a precedent for each day, which is important for me because my job is unpredictable. Travel, calls, meetings with internal teams or clients—I must be adaptable. Given that our firm now has 18 global offices and clients all over the world, I also spend a great deal of time in Ubers, airports, and planes.
I also invest as much time as I can in learning, reading, and networking through groups like the Fast Company Impact Council and the CNBC CEO Council. CannonDesign helps the leading health systems, colleges and universities, research institutions and businesses chart exciting new futures; I need to be plugged in to the trends, ideas and people shaping the future.
I always try to end my day with family time and entertainment. It is important for me to create intentional opportunities for my brain to power down and get ready for the next day.
4. Playlist Favorites
It really depends on which one of my children controls the sound system. If it is my middle son, we will be listening to Mac Miller. If it is my youngest, then it is Taylor Swift time. In the rare moments where I get to set the playlist, I like to listen to stations playing 80s and 90s hits.
5. Tools of the Trade
My cell phone, laptop, earbuds get me through each day. Also, during the pandemic, my family moved from a 900-square foot apartment in Manhattan to a 1950s modern midcentury home outside Washington, D.C., so my favorite real tools right now are a concrete saw, a jackhammer and a 240-piece socket set. Our new home and the myriad remodeling and updating projects it offers are fun and creative endeavors for me in my free time.
To create Square and Cash App’s new St. Louis office, CannonDesign rejuvenated a historic building as a dynamic workplace.
6. Dream Studio
Central Park. One of the things I miss most about living in New York City is starting my mornings in Cental Park around the Reservoir. You can stand and watch the sunrise, feel the mood of the city, hear the street wake up—it grounds you in exciting ways. Central Park has a way of inspiring each new day.
7. One Unique Thing About My Work Process…
I focus a great deal on understanding if there is precedent for what we are working through or if we are entering new ground. We know history repeats itself but journeys like the COVID-19 pandemic were extremely novel. Leading our organization through that chapter proved one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my professional life.
History’s uncanny ability to repeat itself fascinates me. A part of my work process is always trying to understand that more deeply. I am currently reading Ray Dalio’s Principle for Dealing with the Changing World Order and am always invested in a book or TV show exploring our connections to history.
CannonDesign partnered with Johns Hopkins to design this new research building for the nation’s top scientists.
8. Mantra
There is no playbook. Yes, there are best practices, lessons learned, and theories tested. But past precedent will only get you so far. That is what I have learned as CEO of CannonDesign. It rings true in big and small moments alike.
With that as my mantra, I really do appreciate each day as a new opportunity. The new directions we want to take our design firm, the decisions we are going to make, they belong to us and the present. That frees people up to really take agency and ownership in the direction of our creative business. It excites the clients we work with across health, education, science, workplace and beyond. If there is no playbook, then we write the rules; we author the future.
9. My Brightest Idea that Never Saw the Light of Day
I spent a great deal of time in my youth playing with Legos. I would build the specific set, but then I would start to combine sets to make cities and buildings. The idea that you could take disparate sets and create entirely new worlds fascinated me. I truly invented entirely new sets that Lego could have invested in and sold to the masses. They didn’t call me for my ideas back then, but they are still welcome to call.
10. To-Do List Item that Keeps Me Up at Night
What really keeps me up at night right now is this ongoing movement to undermine institutional legacy. There are constant efforts to undermine government, companies, news organizations and other cultural hallmarks. I think about this a great deal and what it means for a design firm like CannonDesign. I believe that society's purpose is to build a better society, and how that transcends the tumultuous time we live in is still to be determined.
Within that social context, I want CannonDesign and the work we do to be as positively impactful as possible. We established Living-Centered Design as our firm’s ethos and a new framework for practicing design that allows us to advance holistic solutions that empower people, community, business, planet, and society all at once.
My hope is that Living-Centered Design becomes a movement that reaches far beyond the bounds of our design practice. I think about that every night. How does Living-Centered Design become a curriculum, a book, an annual conference, a guidepost for the future of all design. It is the beginning of a new era and I spend a great deal of time thinking about how we advance that movement.
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