Confidential Global Financial Leader

When a global financial leader set out to reimagine their Chicago office, the goal went beyond a new floor plan. After a decade-long relationship with NELSON Worldwide, the client returned with a 24,000 SF opportunity to rethink how their people work, gather, and grow together.

The project began aligned with the company’s existing workplace standards, then shifted partway through design toward a hospitality-driven environment built around choice, movement, and flexibility. Assigned seating and private offices gave way to a more open, activity-based model. Instead of defaulting to industry convention, NELSON grounded the design in the client’s own priorities and shaped them into one cohesive environment.

At its heart is a simple idea: give every employee options rather than a single point of return, with room to grow. The floor offers roughly 270 seats for a team of more than 220, comfortably exceeding daily demand. The mix is intentional. Unassigned workstations carry daily work, dedicated points anchor heads-down focus, and touchdown seats support shorter collaborative stretches.

The plan unfolds as a gradient, moving from focused work areas through flexible huddle and conference rooms into collaborative, social spaces built for connection. Leading with hospitality over uniformity is deliberate, making a three-day-a-week cadence something employees opt into rather than tolerate.

Sustainability shaped material decisions from the start. PVC-free specifications, biophilic elements, and natural light throughout reflect the company’s broader corporate commitments.

Since move-in, the workplace supports how the team works today and points to where the organization is going rather than where it has been, giving a workforce in this industry an environment it can call its own. That outcome unlocks long-term value through design, grown from ten years of working together, with NELSON acting as a partner first and a designer second.