Reimagining the Modern Corporate Workplace in Downtown Chicago
This project is reimagining the modern corporate workplace in downtown Chicago, creating a flexible, human-centered environment that supports collaboration, adaptability, and long-term growth.
Located at 333 South Wabash just steps from Grant Park, the 500,000-square-foot Corporate Institutional and Global Services Center spans seventeen floors within a prominent Chicago high-rise. As a long-term partner, HED was engaged to lead a thoughtful, research-based process to determine the right workplace strategy before construction began. The client sought more than a renovation. They wanted a smart, future-ready office environment that could respond to evolving team structures, new technologies, and shifting work styles while reinforcing their culture and brand.
HED approached the project through an integrated design process, aligning architecture, interiors, and building systems around a shared vision. Early research and stakeholder engagement shaped a workplace model that prioritizes flexibility and human connection. The design reallocated space to create a balanced ecosystem of touchdown areas, social hubs, teaming rooms, and flexible workstations. A free-address model replaced traditional assigned seating, allowing teams to choose spaces that fit their daily tasks and adapt their footprint as projects evolve. Movable desks and operable walls introduce agility at multiple scales, giving departments the ability to reconfigure their environment without disruption.
Each floor is organized to feel intuitive and welcoming. Open sightlines encourage interaction, while varied room types support focus, collaboration, and hybrid engagement. High-performance audiovisual systems are seamlessly integrated, allowing teams to host hybrid meetings and large-scale gatherings with clarity and ease. Social spaces are positioned as connective tissue within the floor plate, creating natural opportunities for informal exchange and strengthening workplace culture.
Following the initial completion in 2020, HED continued its partnership by realizing additional floors within the building stack to accommodate expanding institutional groups. The most recent phase includes a full-floor renovation for the Human Resources Group. Modeled on the established workplace framework, the floor is arranged into four quadrants, each functioning as a neighborhood for a specific HR team. A highly branded interview suite expresses the company’s identity while offering a welcoming experience for candidates. Adjacent to it, a flexible meeting space supports hybrid collaboration and town hall gatherings, reinforcing the organization’s commitment to communication and transparency.
The result is a cohesive, adaptable workplace that aligns business strategy with daily experience. By pairing research with integrated architecture and interior design, HED delivered a smart corporate office environment that evolves with its users. The project reflects our positioning as a company that approaches complex workplace challenges with curiosity and collective wisdom, creating spaces that are resilient, high-performing, and distinctly human.
“This was the largest single construction project that Northern Trust has ever undertaken. The project has been delivered on time, on budget and to an exceptional quality.”
