Charlie Cannon

Charlie Cannon is an award winning designer and nationally recognized educator working in Providence, Rhode Island.

For nearly a decade he has applied rigorous design thinking to the problems that befall contemporary cities. Recognizing that these problems are often structural, Mr. Cannon co-founded LOCAL in 2005 to focus on projects that develop and sustain local communities through planning, communication, strategy and architecture. In addition to a number of new buildings, LOCAL’s current projects include: Working with the Rhode Island Economic Development Council to develop workshops that introduce the state as an international test bed for business model innovation (w/ Martin Anderson of Babson College). WindRI, A project funded by the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund to help develop wind power in Rhode Island through a deliberative polling process (w/ Project Director Leftheri Pavlides, Roger Williams University and Christina Zarcadoulas, Brown University). And an invited design competition to develop a new affordable and sustainable building to anchor future development along an underdeveloped commercial district in Providence (w/ Truthbox inc).

In addition to his professional practice, Cannon is an adjunct faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design. For the past six years he has developed and refined tools of collabortation in Innovation Studio Program. The Program’s aims include development of ecologically sound infrastructures such as an eco-industrial parks, power plants and municipal waste systems through interdisciplinary teamwork. The studio’s subject matter has garnered wide ranging support– including studio sponsorships by the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems and the active participation of policy makers, planners, community activists and businesspeople. The interdisciplinary methods used in the studio have been the subject of lectures in the United States and abroad, and have been profiled in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Metropolis Magazine, What the Best Teachers Do (Harvard University Press) and Archis Magazine.

Prior to founding LOCAL, Cannon spent 9 years working with some of the most innovative thinkers in the fields of education, community development and sustainable design, including: Providence non-profits, engaged in large-scale brown field redevelopment projects. Save the Bay, an environmental advocacy and educational organization. The South Providence Development Corporation’s eco-business incubator at 17 Gordon Avenue, the first green and smart building in the state. An unusual joint venture between Kapolei High School and the Nature Conservancy of Oahu to develop a program for a shared facility to support Hawaiian culture and preserve Oahu’s native ecology. And the Big Picture Company, a non-profit parent of a radical student-centered, project-based learning high school that is developing 50 schools across the United States.

In both his professional and academic ventures, Mr. Cannon acts as design, programming and sustainability consultant as well as facilitator and liason between the different parties involved. He frequently leads brain storming sessions and workshops to assist project participants to develop mission statements and align their organizational objectives with the design of built structures, communication systems and economic models.