For decades, the office leasing process followed a familiar order. A company determined how much space it needed, selected a building, negotiated the lease and then brought in architects and designers to plan the workplace.
That sequence worked when offices were evaluated primarily by location, rent and square footage. Today, however, companies must consider a much wider range of operational and employee needs before committing to a space. Many of those questions can only be answered through design.
Workplace planning now begins during the search for space. Before identifying an office, companies seek to understand how their people will use the office, how often they will be there and what types of spaces are required to support the business. Those answers influence the amount of space a company needs, the type of floor plate that will work and the building features that matter most.
It is important to remember that head count alone offers an incomplete picture. In addition to varied work-from-home policies, employees may divide their time among focused work, collaboration, meetings, social interaction and client engagement. Some organizations need a high number of enclosed rooms. Others benefit from more open project areas, flexible meeting spaces or hospitality settings. Attendance patterns also matter, particularly when office use peaks in the middle of the week.
According to CBRE, 77% of surveyed occupiers considering a relocation cited a mix of cost, operational and employee-experience factors. Better amenities and improved locations were among the reasons companies were willing to move. Among businesses with fewer than 500 employees, 54% said amenities and services influenced building selection.
These findings show how much the office search has changed. A company may be comparing two spaces with similar rents and square footage, yet the buildings may offer very different levels of flexibility, infrastructure and support for employees. Early design studies help reveal those differences before the company makes a long-term commitment.
Vocon’s work at 99 Park Avenue illustrates how the building itself can become part of the workplace strategy. Working with Global Holdings Management, Vocon reimagined the building’s ground-floor presence and tenant experience, including a double-height lobby that improves transparency and natural light and a curated amenity center with conference, hospitality, entertainment and personal-service spaces. For prospective tenants, those features provide functions beyond the individual office floor and can influence how much space they need to create within their own premises.
At 51 W 52nd Street, Vocon worked with Harbor Group International and MdeAS Architects on the repositioning of Eero Saarinen’s landmark office tower. The project combines flexible, column-free floor plates with a broader tenant amenity experience that includes Club 53, shared conference facilities, a fitness center, a private cocktail lounge and a rooftop garden. By activating previously underutilized areas of the building, the project gives tenants access to social, meeting and wellness spaces without requiring every function to be accommodated within their own suites.
Both projects demonstrate why building selection cannot be separated from workplace planning. The value of a prospective office extends beyond the leased square footage to include the infrastructure, shared spaces and amenities that can support how employees actually work.
A specific floor may look suitable on a leasing plan and still present major planning challenges. Deep floor plates can limit access to natural light. Structural columns can interrupt circulation or reduce layout options. Core placement, ceiling heights and mechanical systems can also affect where conference rooms, kitchens and specialized spaces can be located.
These issues have direct cost implications. A design team can identify them while the tenant is still comparing buildings, giving the company time to request landlord improvements, reconsider the space or negotiate more favorable terms. This is critical because once the lease is signed, the available solutions become narrower and often more expensive.
This is why a test fit should examine more than capacity. Counting desks and conference rooms is useful, but it does not show whether the space will support the organization’s day-to-day operations. A more advanced test fit considers how people move through the office, where teams gather, which activities require privacy and how workplace needs may change over time.
That level of planning is especially important in a hybrid environment, where attendance and collaboration patterns can vary throughout the week. A test fit should account for those shifts by considering the right balance of project rooms, smaller meeting settings, quiet spaces and shared areas. The goal is to create a workplace that supports teams when they come together while still giving individuals the privacy and focus they need.
That shift affects space planning. Some companies may need fewer assigned workstations and a wider range of collaboration spaces. Others may require quiet rooms, stronger acoustic separation or flexible rooms that can serve different purposes throughout the day. These needs should be established early enough to guide the real estate decision.
Building amenities have also become part of the calculation. Shared conference centers, cafés, lounges, fitness facilities and outdoor areas can extend the workplace beyond the tenant’s leased floor. When those spaces are purposeful and well operated, they can reduce the amount of space a tenant needs to build internally.
A shared conference center, for example, may lessen the need for a large boardroom that sits empty most of the week. A building lounge or terrace can give employees additional places to meet without requiring the tenant to dedicate more square footage to informal gathering. Projects such as 99 Park Avenue and 51 W 52nd Street demonstrate how those shared functions can become an extension of the tenant workplace.
Still, shared amenities do not automatically solve every workplace need. Privacy, scheduling, technology, security and branding can make certain functions more appropriate inside the tenant’s own space. Early planning helps determine where the building creates efficiencies and where the tenant needs to provide its own solution.
The newest building may not always be the best fit. An older property with a flexible floor plate, strong infrastructure and useful shared spaces may serve a tenant better than a newer building with impressive amenities that do not align with the company’s needs. At 51 W 52nd Street, that balance comes through in the combination of architectural character, efficient floor plates and contemporary amenities that support how tenants use the building today.
A company that waits until the end of the leasing process to define its workplace needs may find that the best options are already gone. Beginning earlier allows the real estate and design teams to evaluate buildings using the same set of priorities, identifying infrastructure upgrades, estimating the scope of construction and determining which items should be completed by the landlord before occupancy. That information can strengthen negotiations and reduce the likelihood of costly surprises.
Design gives companies a practical way to test a lease before committing to it. Used early, it can reduce risk, improve negotiations and help ensure that the selected workplace will continue to serve the organization throughout the lease term.
Editor’s Note: Sofia Juperius, NCIDQ, is senior associate, design director at Vocon.