Northwestern Medicine, Faculty Office Center – Chicago
CannonDesign’s Northwestern Medicine Faculty Office Center in Chicago reimagines healthcare workplaces by fostering flexibility, wellness, and community, emphasizing restorative spaces to combat physician burnout and enhance collaboration among faculty.
The design represents a fundamental rethinking of how healthcare workplaces can support the people responsible for delivering care. Rather than reinforcing the traditional model of dedicated physician offices arranged along corridors, CannonDesign created a hospitality-inspired environment centered on flexibility, wellness, and community. The project acknowledges that physicians spend much of their time moving between clinical, research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities, making permanently assigned offices both inefficient and disconnected from how faculty actually work. In response, the design shifts to a membership-based workplace model that provides physicians with access to a diverse range of spaces tailored to their daily needs, prioritizing choice, comfort, and well-being over individual ownership of square footage.
A key component of the design is its deliberate focus on combating physician burnout through evidence-based environmental strategies. Throughout the center, CannonDesign incorporated restorative spaces that support mental and emotional recovery during demanding workdays. Dedicated recharge suites provide quiet environments for rest and decompression, while biophilic design elements introduce natural materials, greenery, and calming sensory experiences that help reduce stress. Carefully designed wellness oases offer places for reflection, respite, and informal connection, creating moments of relief that are often absent in conventional healthcare office environments. Spa-like amenities further reinforce the project’s focus on wellness, transforming the workplace into a setting that actively supports the health of its users rather than simply accommodating administrative functions.
The design also fosters collaboration and community among faculty members. Instead of isolating physicians in private offices, the workplace offers a spectrum of shared environments that encourage connection, interdisciplinary interaction, and knowledge exchange. Comfortable lounges, team-based workspaces, touchdown areas, and informal gathering zones create opportunities for spontaneous conversations and collaboration across departments. This approach reflects CannonDesign’s belief that workplace design can strengthen professional relationships and cultivate a stronger sense of belonging among healthcare staff, ultimately contributing to a more supportive organizational culture.
Design: CannonDesign
Design Team: Meg Navin, Mark Hirons, Bradley Pausha, Samantha Dobrusin, Paul Ng
Photography: Christopher Barrett
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