A method and system are provided. The method includes mapping a binary matrix to an undirected graph form, applying a two-way graph partition algorithm to the mapped binary matrix that minimizes edge cuts between partitions in the mapped binary matrix, applying a greedy algorithm recursively to find a set of row or column permutations that maximizes a transfer of non-zeros from sparse blocks to nonsparse blocks, and sparsifying or densifying the binary matrix according to the applied greedy algorithm.