Shape

Turn a workplace
problem into a plan.

Shape is a pre-project method that brings multiple inputs together to help you work through open questions in your portfolio. Quickly get the answers you need to move forward, without committing to a project—all for completely transparent pricing.

Find Your Shape ↗
01 / Understand the Experience

How we shape a project

01

Kickoning Optional

Not kickoff, not visioning, but a short, structured call that sets the direction.

Optional if you’ve used Shape before.

60 min / $500
02

Programming

Build, compare and iterate on scenarios in Prism, NELSON’s programming tool.

See it in action ↗60 min / $500
03

Live Blocking

Take your program and see it come to life as we design together in real time.

See it in action ↗Priced per space
04

Refine

Unlimited iterations within a fixed window, plus one test-fit revision.

Window duration TBD
05

The result

A strategy brief, a program, and at least one block plan.

02 / Make It Yours

Find your shape.

1 Kickoning

Not kickoff, not visioning, but a short, structured call that sets the direction. Optional if you’ve used Shape before.

2 Programming

Unlimited iteration after the call.

3 Live Blocking

Comparing locations? Add each space separately. Blocking is priced per space.

An approximate area is fine. If you choose “I don’t know yet,” we’ll determine blocking pricing before work begins.

← The experienceFind Your Shape →

Why Shape?

Starting is often the hardest part.

We hear it repeatedly: getting a workplace project started is difficult. There’s uncertainty about what’s needed, what it might cost, and whether it’s worth pursuing. Shape helps you work through those questions before making a larger investment.

Enough depth to move forward, a cost that makes it possible

Shape touches the key parts of a workplace project without turning the investigation into a project itself. You'll walk away with an optional strategic brief, a defined program, and a space plan that can be used as a basis for a test fit.

But you won't blow your budget.

Through real time design and the technology that makes it possible, we'll save you hours and dollars, giving you the information you need at a price that makes sense. Best of all, you'll control and know that price up front.

You should Shape when...

You just don't know where to start.

Some workplace projects are straightforward. Many aren't. If you know you need a space solution but don't know where to start, Shaping is a great idea.

You have a portfolio of spaces to consider.

For organizations with multiple locations and an established strategy, Shaping projects is a way to prioritize within your budget. You can compare opportunities, see what problems projects solve, and choose what moves forward.

You have unused square footage.

Have empty space within your portfolio or building? Shape a project with us and see if it works as extra amenity space, room for a pilot project, or even something you could lease to another tenant.

You’re being asked what something will cost.

Behind that question is often another: “Have you considered other options?” Shape helps you explore alternatives, understand their space implications, and demonstrate the thinking behind your recommendation.

You’re a broker helping a client find space.

Shape can help define what the client needs before—or during—the building search, giving you a clearer basis for evaluating candidate spaces.

Find Your Shape →
← Back to the experienceFind Your Shape →
Kickoning

Not a kickoff.
Not a visioning session.

Kickoning is a short, structured call that sets a project's direction.

Start with what you know.

The most successful workplaces reflect how an organization works and what it values. It can only be for them. But figuring that out in advance of a project doesn’t always require a lengthy strategy session. Maybe your strategy was set upstream, maybe it lives in one person's head and just needs to be explained, or maybe it's pretty straightforward.

A hello. A few good questions. A direction.

That's why we invented kickoning. Kickoning combines the foundational elements of a kickoff call with the exploration of a visioning session. A true sprint, we'll say hello and then have a short, structured conversation about how you work and what your space needs to do...and that's it.

A foundation for what comes next.

This session, using a method unique to NELSON, sets the stage for what's to come in the Shaping process, informing every step of the way. We'll refine it into a short strategy brief as one of the deliverables you'll walk away with.

Optional if you’ve used Shape before.

60 minutes · $500Find Your Shape →
← Back to the experienceFind Your Shape →
Programming / See it in action

Start with headcount.
Explore the possibilities.

We use Prism, NELSON’s programming tool, in our 60-minute session. Start a program, customize every space type, and compare scenarios side by side. Every edit immediately recalculates square footage.

Animated Prism demonstration showing live edits and recalculated space quantities and square footage

Enter headcount and go.

The ratios are built in. No programming by hand.

Start Broad, Go Deep

Start with the big picture, then edit live to explore the details. See what feels right, where you’re unsure, and what still needs an answer.

Compare scenarios.

Compare space needs side by side to see where you could reduce square footage and identify potential savings.

← Back to the experienceFind Your Shape →
Live Blocking / Work it out together

See what works. Change what doesn't. Go far enough.

A live blocking session puts our design team in the room with you, bringing your program to life. Less email back-and-forth, fewer test-fit revisions, and the information you need to move forward, fast.

Interactive design session
Animated Live Blocking demonstration showing colored space blocks arranged on a floor plan while program quantities update
Live Blocking in action · Move blocks and track program requirements together.

Test the agreement.

An approved program can mean different things to different people. Working on the plan together brings those differences into view while they’re still inexpensive to resolve.

Point to what you mean.

A collaboration zone is too far from its teams. Circulation doesn’t feel right. Move it together and see the result, without waiting for someone to interpret a comment and return a revised plan.

Start with what you know.

An incomplete program is enough to begin the conversation. Work through the gaps as you go.

Change your mind.

Move a block. Change a headcount. Try another arrangement. If it doesn’t work, move it back.

Discover what matters.

A plan people can point at helps them explain their priorities—and see whether they agree.

How Shaping Prevents... / Losing Track of Teammates

A window revealed
what the program hadn’t.

During a live session for an insurance company, the client noticed that a key employee didn’t have a window. It mattered to the team. They raised it in the room, and it was resolved in seconds.

You can’t comment your way to consensus.
Build it in the room.

Agree on the plan before committing time to detailed design.

Find Your Shape →
← Why Shape?Find Your Shape →
How Shaping Prevents... / Losing Track of Teammates

Finding Peter.

A window made a priority visible.

An incomplete program. A real conversation.

A major insurance company was taking new space in Philadelphia. Department needs were only partly defined, attendance data was missing, and the client expected more changes. We loaded what we had and started working live, in the room.

What mattered surfaced in the room.

Midway through the first session, the client stopped us. Peter, a key employee commuting daily from Staten Island, didn’t have a window. That mattered to her team. It came up in conversation and was resolved in seconds.

The conversation kept moving.

Afterward, the client sent programming changes to prepare for a second, virtual session. We adjusted the plan together on the call. Hours later, she called with another idea, and we updated it in minutes. By the time the project moved into detailed design, the team had worked through the thinking together.

You can’t comment your way to consensus. Build it in the room.

Find Your Shape →
← Why Shape?Find Your Shape →
How Shaping Prevents... / Searching for files that don't exist

Skip the second call.

An initial program, built during the conversation.

They knew they needed less space. But how much less?

A professional services firm was considering downsizing its workplace. During a client call, the team suggested finding the existing program: workstation counts, space standards, and the usual mix of conference, support, and amenity space. That would mean another conversation before the work could begin.

Instead, we opened Prism.

Starting with headcount, we generated an initial program in minutes. Prism applied NELSON’s workplace knowledge to establish a starting mix of spaces. Then we worked through it live with the client. They didn’t use phone booths, so we removed them. They didn’t need a large boardroom, so we removed that too. Each change recalculated the program and total square footage.

One call was enough to get started.

By the end of the call, we had an initial program. There was no follow-up request to find the old one, no second meeting to review it, and no round of revisions based on notes from the first conversation. The client could use the program to begin looking at available real estate—and keep adapting it as the search progressed.

From “Can we downsize?” to “What space do we actually need?”

Find Your Shape →
← Why Shape?Find Your Shape →
How Shaping Prevents... / Spending your budget on rework

Test the question before building the answer.

Eight offices became sixteen—after the test fit was developed.

A changed assumption meant starting over.

A major financial client asked NELSON to test fit a workplace plan with eight private offices. After the plan was developed, the client clarified that they needed sixteen. Doubling the office count fundamentally changed the plan. The team had to redo the test fit rather than simply adjust it.

Rework takes money away from moving forward.

That change consumed additional time and fees. On a smaller project, redoing work can take a significant share of the available design budget. The issue wasn’t a minor detail: the team was developing a plan around an assumption that still needed to be tested.

How Shaping could help.

This is the kind of uncertainty Shape is designed to address earlier. Programming and Live Blocking would let the team compare eight-office and sixteen-office scenarios while the work was still easy to change, understand the implications, and agree on a direction before developing a full test fit.

Spend more time deciding while the work is easy to change.

Find Your Shape →

Send to NELSON

This prototype isn’t connected to NELSON yet. Nothing has been sent.