Renowned sustainable architect Charles D. Knight to lead Cannon Design’s Phoenix office

Phoenix, AZ – March 8, 2011 - Cannon Design is pleased to announce that Charles D. Knight, AIA, CID, LEED AP, has joined the firm as principal. Knight will serve as the leader of the Phoenix office with a focus on advancing the firm’s healthcare practice.

Knight brings over 25 years of experience and is an internationally recognized architect who has won numerous awards for his unique contributions to the sustainable and humanistic design of healthcare facilities. His vast portfolio of work includes creating and financing socially responsible sustainable medical campuses, children’s hospitals, hospice facilities and private sector communities.  Knight’s passion to create sustainable and compassionate healthcare design is exemplified in the Sri Lanka Embassy Medical Center in Colombo.  This first off the grid, LEED Platinum Living Building, large scale medical center was designed for catastrophic events such as tsunami’s, earthquakes and flooding and to create life saving triage facility that stimulates economic growth while sustaining the environment. Knight is also proud of his many community contributions, including Adopt a Room, a privately held foundation specializing in environmentally positive patient rooms for terminally ill children. This project received the 2008 International Healthcare Design FAB Grand award and the 2008 FAB Healthcare award.  

 Prior to joining Cannon Design, Knight was Principal and Managing Director of Perkins + Will’s Minneapolis office—guiding the region’s strategic initiatives, as well as serving on its Board of Directors.  Knight’s professional affiliations include serving on the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Design/Research Committee, the AIA’s Competition Committee, and the Campus Architecture Landscape Architecture (CALA) Education Accreditation Committee.  An Associate of the Historic Architecture Society, he has also served as a Design Critic at the University of Illinois, University of Arizona, Oklahoma State University and the University of Minnesota.

A frequent featured worldwide speaker at architectural and sustainability forums, Knight has authored numerous books and articles for professional publications which include Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, Building and Design, and Healthcare and Real Estate Review.  He holds both a Professional Bachelors of Architecture from Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Illinois.

Cannon Design is an Ideas Based Practice, ranked among the leading international firms in planning and design for healthcare, research, education, corporate, sports and government clients.  At present, the firm employs a staff of over 1,000, delivering services in 17 offices throughout North America, as well as in Shanghai, China, and Mumbai, India.