Designed by Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck

Overlay

A three-sided Overlay space with green tackable fabric on the interior and exterior walls with a table, four stools, and markerboards inside.

Transforming the open floorplan

Overlay is a system of freestanding, movable walls that helps you define your space. Designed to create visual clarity in open-plan offices, Overlay helps people understand where their best work will happen and gives organizations the agility to evolve on the fly.

A three-sided Overlay space with blue tackable fabric interiors and colorful geometric pattern on the exterior wall with a chair and desk inside.

Unique, Customizable Spaces

Overlay can be outfitted with colors, textiles, laminates, glass, markerboards, or a custom material. You can use media display or writable surfaces to support whatever the day might bring. The interior and exterior sides of an Overlay wall can share the same look or reflect the design of the office on the outside and the messy vibrancy of the work happening on the inside.

Two Overlay room dividers placed across each other with tables and chairs in between with markerboards in the interior and dark blue fabric on the exterior.

Affordable Flexibility

Overlay comes without the cost of prefabricated walls or burden of traditional construction. With just two people and in about two hours, a small application of Overlay can be relocated with minimal disruption to the ecosystem of the office.

An enclosed Overlay meeting room with two glass walls and two laminate walls with a conference table and four chairs inside.

Ready for Anything

Use a single boundary as a room divider. A three-sided workspace can become a designated area for impromptu meetings or collaborative work. Or, use four Overlay walls to create an enclosed meeting space—complete with a door—that can offer a higher level of visual and acoustical privacy.

Discover how Overlay works

Learn more

Design Inspiration

  • A semi-enclosed Overlay room with green tackable fabric and birch wood slat exterior walls with three stools and a table inside.
  • An enclosed Overlay room with purple tackable fabric and glass exterior walls with three chairs and a table inside.
  • A semi-enclosed Overlay room with an off-white tackable fabric and white perforated metal exterior walls with a couch, tables, and two chairs inside.
  • A three-sided Overlay space with white markerboard and light gray interior walls with three stools and a table inside.
  • A semi-enclosed Overlay room with red tackable fabric and glass exterior walls with a couch and table inside.
  • A three-sided Overlay space with gray tackable fabric exterior walls and a black curtain with three chairs and three side tables inside.

  • Select this green/white circle to display a semi-enclosed Overlay room with wood slats.
  • Select this purple/white circle to display an enclosed Overlay room with a glass sliding wall.
  • Select this off-white/white circle to display a semi-enclosed Overlay room.
  • Select this blue/black circle to display a three-sided Overlay space with a perforated metal wall.
  • Select this red/white circle to display a semi-enclosed Overlay room with a glass wall.
  • Select this graphite/black circle to display a three-sided Overlay space with a curtain.

Product

Make Spaces with Overlay

Overlay defines areas to collaborate, catch up, or hunker down and work alone.

Take a Deeper Dive

Turn Your Open Office into a Productive Office

Learn how to define space by implying space.

Read On

Bringing Focus Back to the Open Office

Discover how you can keep people focused and happy.

Read On

Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck

The designers found inspiration in urban planning concepts and designed Overlay to create a pattern of integrated but distinctive settings to help people intuitively navigate the workplace.

Design Story