NELSON Worldwide designed a sweet new space for Ferrera Candy Co. with exposed sightlines to encourage a transparent and creative culture. Read more here.

Ferrara Candy Company’s new headquarters space in Chicago’s Old Post Office building was designed to accommodate the company’s growth and flexibility and provide more meeting and conference spaces to encourage collaboration and information sharing. Read more with Building Design + Construction. 

​Corix tasked NELSON Worldwide with renovating their new corporate headquarters in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The company, dedicated to the implementation of sustainable water, wastewater, and energy utility infrastructure solutions, was relocating from their suburban headquarters to the new downtown Chicago location to improve the recruitment and retention of employees.

NELSON transformed their new offices to create an entirely different atmosphere from their previous space. Corix’s original offices were compartmentalized with minimal opportunities for collaboration. In contrast, the new space utilizes fewer private offices creating a more transparent environment, while functional furniture and moveable walls create natural partitions while still offering opportunities for collaboration. Read more here.

NELSON Worldwide, award-winning architecture, design, and strategy firm, welcomes Robert Cohoon as Regional Technical Leader. Robert will work alongside workplace project teams in the Central Region in a technical leadership role to coordinate drawing/document production and implement firmwide drawing standards. Read more with Commercial Construction & Renovation here.

NELSON Worldwide guides Castlelake to further connect both employees and clients through their workplace.

Read more with Work Design Magazine here.

Tucked within San Francisco’s charming Telegraph Hill neighborhood and just below the iconic Coit Tower are a series of hidden steps that are truly worth the climb. Dating back to the 1900’s, the Filbert and Greenwich Steps weave past some of the city’s oldest houses and best-kept secret gardens (with plenty of history). A combination of wood, metal and brick segments of the stairs meander up through the steep hillside, surrounded by charming architecture and lush gardens (even in January), all inaccessible by car. Going up the Filbert Steps leads you to Coit Tower with 360 degree views of the city. Taking the Greenwich Steps back down towards the Embarcadero, you will quickly hear, then eventually see, the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. This flock of tropical birds is a delightful surprise and only adds to the wanderlust of this true urban oasis. Climbing and descending over 800 steps, this architectural feat may not be easy, but you’ll find plenty of reasons to stop and take in the view, while you catch your breath.

Let’s hold a moment of silence for the traditional headquarters space. Born in at the turn of the 20th Century, the headquarters life came to an end after battling to survive in a millennial-driven, technology dominated, flexible workplace environment. Prior to the first technology boom in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, it was rare to find a fortune 500 company that didn’t have an elaborate and sprawling campus that served as the organization’s corporate headquarters. Housed within these walls were generally all of the administration functions of the business including, marketing, human resources, IT and C-Suite executives. Today, however, thanks to the rising use of technology and remote locations, headquarters are irrelevant. In fact, they’re dead.

“Headquarters can be wherever you want and need them to be. In the past, the headquarters used to be the place where ideas were bred and new talent wanted to be. Now, companies are discovering that if you want the best talent, go to where they are,” said Larry Mufson, Managing Principal of The Mufson Partnership, A NELSON Company.

What’s driving this change? Costs and Millennials. The financial crisis of 2008 forced many companies to look at one of their largest expenses, real estate. In order to cut costs and keep relatively the same amount of productivity, many companies downsized their headquarters and larger hub offices and increased the utilization of remote and telework locations. For millennials looking to control when and how they work, the rise of on-demand services like Uber and Hourly Nerd provided the flexibility they needed without being tied to a specific location.

Headquarters spaces are now a costly investment that aren’t yielding the returns they once did. They are no longer a final destination, but a journey that propels a company’s culture forward and flows to the rest of the organization and locations.

Companies such as The Tie Bar are embracing the “headless” headquarters movement. Located in Chicago, IL, the online men’s retail shop wanted to bring their online personality and inventory into a physical environment while also providing a space for employees to work. Their final design solution reflected their upscale urban gentlemen’s club persona, provided space for product and samples, and also offered space for their employees to work, meet and socialize.

Multi-national companies such as NELSON have also embraced headless headquarters. We have 25 locations across the U.S., but none of them are the headquarters.

“Our people make our organization outstanding and prominent, not a location. Within each location, we’ve empowered the individuals there to embody and reflect the mission, values and culture overall. Headquarters for us is an attitude and mindset that is reflected at every level of the organization. What good is a major physical location that is overly grand and opulent if the same values and culture aren’t reflected in other locations?” Said John “Ozzie” NELSON, Chairman and CEO of NELSON.

As the way we work continues to evolve and change, so will the office spaces we inhabit. The headquarters was once the crowning achievement of an organization and a testament to its growth and influence. Today, we bury the space and in a way the idea behind it, but welcome in its place a headquarters that’s available wherever you need it to be.

Meet Sean McCorry, Vice President, National Business Leader in the Retail Practice and National Business Leader in the Hospitality Practice at NELSON Worldwide. Sean will lead the firm’s retail efforts nationwide, bringing over 25 years of experience managing global retail concepts and delivering premium brand concepts with a return on investment.
 

Q: If you had 3 words to describe your brand, what would they be?

Original, Reactive, Empathetic

Q: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a town in England call Bristol, and its still one of my favorite places. It’s a big city that never really feels big, incredible eclectic mix of people and the best coffee shops anywhere.

Q: What is a quote or mantra you live by?

“What you allow is what will continue.”

Q: What is an underrated food that you think deserves more hype?

Hot Pot! It’s wild food and I love it!!

Meet Mary Kathryn German. Client Development Leader at NELSON Worldwide. Based in Atlanta, Mary Kathryn will lead business development and marketing efforts to strengthen NELSON’s position as an industry leader that creates spaces where people live, work, shop, play, and thrive.
 

Q: If you had 3 words to describe your brand, what would they be?

Authentic, Passionate, Driven. Authentic because I strive to stay true to who I am, the morals and values I was raised with and most importantly how I treat others. Passionate because when I feel strongly about someone or something, I give my whole heart and mind to that individual or topic. Driven because if you know me, I go above and beyond in the work I do. I strive to be the trusted advisor people can turn to when they need advice, assistance or simply a friend to talk to.

Q: What’s something people don’t know about you that they would be surprised to find out?

I was a competitive tap dancer until I left for college. I’ve won numerous competitions and in the early 90’s auditioned to be on the TV show Star Search.

Q: What is a quote or mantra you live by?

“Your character is your accumulation of your thoughts, habits and priorities on a day-to-day basis.”- Nick Saban

Q: When people come over, what’s the one piece of art or furniture that’s an immediate conversation piece?

My husband & I collect face jugs from local potters in Georgia. Our collection is comprised of around 20 jugs in varying sizes, most of them being from the Meaders and Hewell families who are recognized as the best American potters known for face jugs. We’ve even had the good fortune to purchase our collection from the creators themselves. The jugs are formed into crazy faces or have snakes wrapped around them…they are always a topic of conversation!

Meet Linda Mysliwiec, Workplace National Business Leader at NELSON Worldwide. With an in-depth background in design and a strong business acumen, Linda will lead the firm’s nationwide workplace business efforts while looking to inform and translate business strategies into execution.
 

Q: If you had 3 words to describe your brand, what would they be?

Fair, Fun, Honest

Q: What’s something people don’t know about you that they would be surprised to find out?

I’m half Panamanian, half Polish.

Q: What is a quote or mantra you live by?

I attempt to find the best in others. I also try to live by the idea of ‘equanimity’ – I tend to remain calm, even when under stress or while having a disturbing experience (this has been tested during the pandemic)!

Q: What is an underrated food that you think deserves more hype?

Sardines.