Basecamp, a web-based software company in Chicago, needed a simple yet effective office space to match their “less is more” approach to business and software design. At the heart of the office, clad in a custom configuration of stacked industrial felt strips, a large central core acts as organizing element and acoustic mediation for the large open space. Embedded with quark-lined meeting rooms, the core separates the bright open desk area from a communal eating and meeting area and a raked lecture space. With a single simple gesture, the organizing core provides for the complex needs of the growing company.