I think the basic disconnect being expressed in the widly varying opinions seen in this thread is: You can design an open office to work well. You can design

I think the basic disconnect being expressed in the widly varying opinions seen in this thread is: You can design an open office to work well. You can design an open office to be a sweatshop fitting in the maximum number of employees at the lowest cost. You cannot do both. ------ I have worked in an open office I liked. It was the former. Plenty of huddle rooms and other private spaces, different groups physically had a good amount of open floor space between them and another group, and great design to minimize visual distractions for people. I do not believe it saved any significant amount of floorspace over a more traditional cube setup. But it worked well and I didn't have major complaints. However, I have seen far more "open offices" that are just purely out to fit the most employees in the smallest space, and everyone is always miserable in those.