At Union Carbide, there was a management and staff willing to question the established tradition of expressing hierarchical distinctions through physical surroundings. Almost 200 hours of interviews were conducted with employees to determine attitudes toward differential office sizes. An analysis of the economic implications was done indicating that it cost $1.5 million each year, in the company's existing offices, to move partitions to accommodate status changes. Both suggested that the flexibility provided by movable partitions was more of a liability than an asset. Instead, a plan of fixed partitions and a standard room size - 13.5 feet square - was proposed. The standardized offices can be used as offices or small conference rooms.

Each of the 2,300 private offices is located on the perimeter with views of the Connecticut landscape. Only conference rooms requiring audio-visual equipment and such services as mail rooms are located on the interior. Secretarial spaces, though not located on the perimeter, have direct views of the outside.

Two primary circulation corridors connect office areas to a central building where services such as medical, shopping, dining and meeting rooms, the executive offices, and boardrooms are located. The central building also contains the visitors' entrance, which is accessible by two 30-foot roadways that run through the building and provide fire separation and ventilation between offices and parking.

The parking is built at each of the four levels of offices and is approached by ten roadways on each end. The arriving employee can drive directly onto the floor where his or her office is located and walk less than 150 feet from car to office.

The building is of reinforced concrete with a long span, filigree-slab system; and because of the fixed office arrangement, the ducts were run on the perimeter. With the concrete ceilings exposed and a floor-to-floor height of the building 9'-4", a 25 percent reduction in the total volume of the building was achieved. The glass awnings allow the windows to be free of venetian blinds; the curtain wall is of rusticated aluminum panels.

The curve of the plan reflects the contours of the selected location of the building on the site.