No assembly needed. Just take it out of the box and put it to use. The hinges of each panel bend both ways. The screen is lightweight enough to easily move around from place to place, but also well constructed. The faux rice paper allows light through, but people/solid objects cannot be seen through it. This quality of completely obscuring direct visibility was very important to me because in my new rental unit, someone standing outside my living room window can see right into both my bedroom doorway and my bathroom doorway (and unfortunately, the shower door is in plain view when looking in through the bathroom doorway). With the divider screen strategically placed, I can now move between my bedroom and bathroom (including the shower) without being seen and without having to shut the doors or close the blinds. For maximum stability, I recommend keeping the two middle panels straight and bending the outside panels in opposite directions (i.e. one forward and one backward). I have two cats that love to run around and wrestle each other, usually colliding with various objects as they do, and so far with the screen in this configuration, they have not tipped it over. I highly recommend this product. It arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area in less than a week from Werfurniture, and in perfect condition.