This article proposes a method for designing electromagnetic compatibility shielding enclosures using a peer-to-peer based distributed optimization system based on a modified particle swarm optimization algorithm. This optimization system is used to obtain optimal solutions to a shielding enclosure design problem efficiently with respect to both electromagnetic shielding efficiency and thermal performance. During the optimization procedure it becomes evident that optimization algorithms and computational models must be properly matched in order to achieve efficient operation. The proposed system is designed to be tolerant of faults and resource heterogeneity, and as such would find use in environments where large-scale computing resources are not available, such as smaller engineering companies, where it would allow computer-aided design by optimization using existing resources with little to no financial outlay.