I have never been a fan of “open plan” offices.  Here is some actual data.

The impact of the ‘open’ workspace on human collaboration

Ethan S. Bernstein, Stephen Turban

” Contrary to common belief, the volume of face-to-face interaction decreased significantly (approx. 70%) in both cases, with an associated increase in electronic interaction. In short, rather than prompting increasingly vibrant face-to-face collaboration, open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to socially withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and IM.”