As our studio celebrates its 20th anniversary, Mehrdad Yazdani reflects on a series of iconic and transformative projects we’ve been fortunate to produce in that time.
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A proud and exciting moment for our team, this past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign.Rooted in the reputation and leadership of renowned designer Mehrdad Yazdani, the Yazdani Studio is a dynamically creative laboratory for exploration and experimentation in architecture. Read more

Working alongside Mehrdad Yazdani, Mimi Lam, a senior designer in our Yazdani Studio, led the design of the Anne Frank exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. In what she calls both an honor and a challenge, the experience taught her much about what it takes to create successful exhibits, and how design can be harnessed to educate, inspire and entice.
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Urban Land, the official magazine of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), features our Lassonde Studios in a piece on leading student housing projects from across the globe that demonstrate how universities can provide high-quality housing that emphasizes engagement, mixed-use programming, sustainability, walkability and student success.
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Mehrdad Yazdani recently presented as part of AIA New York’s Cocktails & Conversations series at the Center for Architecture in New York City. The dialogue series pairs pairs an architect with a critic, journalist or architectural historian to discuss current architecture design issues over cocktails. Mehrdad was joined by Sam Lubell, a staff writer and contributing editor to The Architect’s Newspaper for the conversation.
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To accommodate a heightened demand for STEM education space, Santa Monica College is building a new 110,000-sf Math and Science Building. The building is designed to consolidate programs previously scattered throughout the campus and create an interdisciplinary STEM community adjacent to the college’s existing Science Complex.
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EdSurge celebrates the University of Utah’s Lassonde Studios in a new piece titled, “Live, Learn, Launch: How a Radical Live-Work Space is Igniting Campus Innovation." The school has ignited entrepreneurial innovation on its campus and potentially created a new template for others to design educational spaces that drive deep learning.
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Signs of the Times, a leading publication for the signage and environmental graphics industry, has published a new story about collaborative design that focuses on the Anne Frank exhibit at the Los Angeles-based Museum of Tolerance, designed by the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign.
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The University of Utah has published a new Q+A interview with Mehrdad Yazdani about the design and success of Lassonde Studios, the breakthrough entrepreneurial education building that has quintupled the number of student-led startups on campus in just two years.
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It wasn’t until Ben Juckes moved from Australia to Los Angeles and began working at Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign that his interest in surfing turned into a career path in architecture and computational design. For Ben, the sports’ appeal was always more about the surfboard, the idea of manipulating its form to maximize its performance – the architecture of it all.
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The Principal – an emerging architecture design publication – has profiled Mehrdad Yazdani and the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign in a new Q+A feature piece.
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Mehrdad Yazdani delivered the keynote presentation at the 2018 Academy for Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) conference at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. Mehrdad focused his presentation on “The Design Process: A Conscious or Unconscious Act” and shared his thoughts on the convergence of design, health, neuroscience and more.
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Contract has published University of Utah’s Lassonde Studios in its new education issue. The breakthrough entrepreneurial education building stacks four residential floors atop a 20,000 sf startup garage where students live, learn and launch companies. In just two years, the building has more than quadrupled the number of student startups on campus.
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Nadine Quirmbach, a key leader in the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, is set to take part in a Metropolis panel discussion titled, “A Healthy Return: The Business Case for Well-Being in the Workplace.”
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A new profile from Architect’s Newspaper highlights the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign’s unique place in the design profession – at the nexus of small boutique studio and large design firm.
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CLAD Global has published an extensive interview with Mehrdad Yazdani focused on Design creativity, a wonderful renaissance of the public realm and what it’s like to work at the nexus of small boutique design studio and large national practice. In it, one of Mehrdad’s many points echoes, “the design community needs to lead the way in helping cities address issues” challenging the long-term success of great public spaces.
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CJ Blossom Park in Suwon, South Korea has won R&D Magazine’s prestigious Lab of the Year Award. The award is the world’s most prestigious honor for research environments, recognizing excellence in laboratory design, planning, engineering and construction.
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n extensive new article from Curbed documents, “How Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign Creates Buildings that Shape Culture.” A laboratory for exploration and experimentation in architecture, the Yazdani Studio holds a unique position in the industry, at the nexus of small boutique design studio and large national practice. Or, as Curbed puts it, Yazdani Studio is “a smaller, LA-based firm-within-a-firm at CannonDesign that has the ability to draw upon the specialized knowledge and resources of a larger company.”
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The Architect’s Newspaper has profiled Jacobs Medical Center in an article titled “Three in One: Curvilinear hospital complex designed for healing by Yazdani Studio.” The feature highlights how the collaborative design team of The Yazdani Studio and CannonDesign set out to change the future of architecture for patient-centered medical facilities.
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A new article from Dezeen features the innovative design of UC San Diego Health’s Jacobs Medical Center. Titled “CannonDesign creates sculptural glass hospital in southern California,” the article highlights the building’s unique curvilinear form, how landscape and nature have been incorporated throughout, and the modern amenities in patient rooms.
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Mehrdad Yazdani has been selected as a semifinalist in Curbed’s 2017 Groundbreakers awards, a competition that honors architects “who are making innovative work that’s changing the way the world functions.” Mehrdad is one of just 14 architects recognized by Curbed as part of this year’s awards program.
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UC San Diego (UCSD) Health’s Jacobs Medical Center is profiled in the November Issue of Contract Magazine. The article highlights UCSD’s integration of research with patient care and the multiple ways innovative technology enhances both the interiors and the patient experience.
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Business Insider recently posted an extensive photo feature of Lassonde Studios with insights from Mehrdad Yazdani, Lynne Deninger and Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, as well as a current student resident. The piece outlines the inspiration behind the design of the facility, how we worked with the client to ensure design goals and residential needs were met, and how the space caters to student needs.
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We are thrilled to share that UC San Diego Health’s Jacobs Medical Center has been awarded a National Healthcare Design Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH). Only seven projects received this year’s award, which recognizes the best new healthcare buildings around the world.
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Student Housing Magazine wrote an in-depth Q&A about Lassonde Studiosand how the facility has created a buzz both within the campus and the surrounding Salt Lake City community.
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Both UC San Diego Health Jacobs Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente Radiation Oncology Center have been featured in an article from CNN Style. The story, entitled “Hospital designs that are changing the way you’re cared for,” discusses how hospitals and healthcare facilities are adopting a more patient-centric approach through evidence-based design, technological innovation, and design strategies inspired by the retail and hospitality industries.
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CJ Blossom Park is featured extensively in Architect magazine’s June issue focused on the future of the workplace. A new world-class research and development headquarters for CJ Corporation, the 1.2 million sf building is conceived as “The Only One” and consolidates CJ Corporation’s previously disparate pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and food products businesses into a single location, enabling it to create industry-defining product strategies and increase its global competitiveness.
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Lassonde Studios at the University of Utah was the winner of the Learn by Design, Physical category award at SXSWedu. The inaugural awards focused on the "design of physical learning spaces and how they have potential to impact learning outcomes." The Lassonde Studio project, designed by the Yazdani Studio in association with EDA Architecture and opened Fall 2016, was selected from over 200 projects worldwide.

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Lassonde Studios at the University of Utah was featured in a recent Fast Company article, "A $45 million Experiment to Turn Donors into Incubators".

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Lassonde Studios of the University of Utah Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute made Architectural Digest’s list of the best new university buildings around the world. Designed by Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, the facility was included within a group that “make the grade for state-of-the-art technology, adherence to historic detailing, and architecturally significant design.”

"...Lassonde Studios is part of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a division of the David Eccles School of Business, and its innovative design was made to attract the brightest young entrepreneurs to the university. The structure is built on a grid system, which will allow rooms to be easily reconfigured as demands for the space fluctuate."

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We are proud to share the exciting news that Fast Company has named CannonDesign one of the most innovative architecture firms in the world. The recognition specifically mentions projects designed by the Yazdani Studio.

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Lassonde Studios at the University of Utah was featured in a recent New York Times piece, "The Innovation Campus: Building Better Ideas"

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Traveler’s Cocoon.
Inspired by the seductive forms of nature, we set out to create a piece of luggage that would explore the variable relationship between traveler’s needs and length of travel – one that could push, pull, resize, add, subtract, reveal, obscure, disguise, and suggest.
The larval shell or cocoon which protects young insects (pupa) is the basis for our design. A cocoon may be tough or soft, opaque or translucent, solid or mesh, shaded in a variety of colors, or composed of multiple layers, depending on the type of insect. As insects develop they cut themselves out of the cocoon – some are constructed with built-in lines of weakness along which they will tear from inside and form exit holes. Our design utilizes this phenomenon of nature to provide our own openings into the case.
Akin to an indigenous North American using the papoose to carry their young, the amorphous, tractable valise allows the traveler to protect their possessions while providing comfort and flexibility for easy transport.
As an analog to architectural notions of structure, identity/image, and enclosure, this single adaptable system blurs distinctions between suitcase, design statement and protection from the elements while fulfilling the needs of each. Additionally a single travel case, with the flexibility to resize to depending on the purpose and duration of travel, parallels a building envelope system that can adapt to different program and environmental conditions.

WEARABLE
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN MUSEUM
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
2012

We set out to create a garment that would explore the variable relationship between clothing and body – one that could push, pull, resize, add, subtract, reveal, obscure, disguise, and suggest.
As an analog to architectural notions of structure, identity/image, and enclosure, this single adaptable system blurs distinctions between undergarment, fashion statement, and protection from the elements while fulfilling the needs of each. Additionally, a single garment with the flexibility to resize to different body types and scales parallels a building envelope system that can adapt to different program needs at building and local scales.

eVap 1500
CANNONDESIGN Product Group
2013

The eVap1500 Heat Exchanging Water Cooling Unit offers an efficient means to cool laboratory processes and equipment without using tap water or small air-cooled chiller units with compressors. This eliminates the related flood risks associated with using tap water, and saves potentially thousands of gallons of fresh water a day at continuous use—reducing the heat, noise and complexity associated with local compressor chiller units as well.

Associate Vice President
Standing at the intersection of art and design, Mimi roots her design work in exploration, technical rigor and fine art. Her work ranges from art exhibits, concert halls, healthcare environments and more.

Vice President
As CAD and technical leader, Jessica excels across the full range of planning, design, construction and quality control. Her strength lies in her ability to deliver a consistent vision in her approach to each level of detail.

Associate Vice President
Nearly two decades of experience have helped David become an expert in quality detailing and interdisciplinary coordination to achieve design excellence. He is integral to projects of all scale and style and critical to helping clients achieve success.

Associate Vice President
Nadine is uniquely gifted with the ability to develop interior spaces that blend harmoniously with exterior architectural expression. She consistently delivers excellent work within large, complex projects with multiple stakeholders.

Associate Vice President
A senior designer in the Studio, Yan works with cutting-edge technology to explore multiple design iterations and synthesize client project goals and vision.

Principal
Craig offers more than 20 years of architectural experience and has helped establish the Yazdani Studio’s design vision. He is instrumental in the realization of distinguished architectural projects that elevate his clients and the design industry.

Principal
Our studio design manager brings extensive experience across all phases of architectural practice and consistently executes significant, beautiful and complex projects across the world.

Principal, Design Director

The Armenian American Museum competition entry just won the Chicago Athenaem’s 2016 American Architecture Awards.
Congratulation to the team!

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This past fall, the Yazdani Studio, along with Gruen Associates and builders Hensel Phelps participated in an invited competition to design a new US Courthouse in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. The site for the project is located at the intersection of Broadway and 1st, one block West of the LA times building and a few blocks east of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

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