Swid Powell is a design company that commissions tabletop products from architects and designers. In 1993, the company decided to consolidate their warehouse and administration operations for greater efficiency, based on the just-in-time concept whereby products would flow from manufacturers to retail outlets through their facility.

Swid Powell's organizational structure required close interaction and a certain informality between the various "departments", some of which consisted of a single person. The core of the design, therefore, became the idea of the "big room" mediated by fixed and moveable "screens" which afforded transparency yet allowed for the establishment of territoriality and of the varying degrees of privacy still necessary in the office environment.

The idea was realized by inserting a system of steel columns, thin partitions and sliding translucent laminated glass panels into the whitewashed volume of the existing loft. The panels act to screen the space, framing the central open workroom, with semi-open offices at either end. The system allows for transmission of light into the interior, and creation of the sensation of accessibility and openness, while at the same time providing a sense of privacy for more discreet work.

Simple large steel worktables are designed to create an open feeling and promote interaction. Bent steel plates serve as display shelving in the entry area which doubles as a showroom. Custom light fixtures provide general uplight and individually controlled task lighting.