What is the best office design you have seen?

I think what feels more relaxed depends on the person in question. Many introverts like myself feel a lot more comfortable in an enclosed workspace, and thus, productivity is also increased.

There is a big difference between 'open workspaces', emphasising the plural, and 'open office plan'.

Putting teams (either functional or cross-functional project-based) of 3-6 people each in an open workspace is great for communication. On the other hand, putting a whole office floor as a single open workspace will simply kill productivity and discourage communication because either people will be isolated in headphones so they don't hear their neighbor, or people will avoid discussions there ('let's get a meeting room') so as not to disturb others.

Man, I must be showing my age, because I remember a time when everyone hated cubicles - they were tiny, cramped, and almost always drab. In fact, I always thought the modern open-plan workspace was a response towards the backlash against cubicles.

Momentarily let's just define it as getting things done without disruption.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1998....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2401283/Open-plan-of...

http://www.informedesign.org/Rs_detail.aspx?rsId=1888

While the research information is relatively thin (as most work related research seems to be), it goes in line with my experience (and probably the commenter you've replied to).

If your productivity is measured by getting code out that works and is maintainable, or any other activity that requires focus for extended periods of time, then getting interrupted in an open layout office is going to bring it down. Having a quiet office that's insulated from drive-by management and other distractions can really help in that regards. If I remember correctly, Peopleware [1] devotes a longer explanation as to why.

If your work isn't that and requires more collaboration than concentration, open layout offices probably work better for those kinds of work.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peopleware:_Productive_Projects...

I'm not saying one way or the other if it helps or hinders productivity. But productivity is such a nebulous idea. If you're getting at what I think you are, it's probably better to express it as an increased probability of becoming distracted. Dev team in our office each has headphones for that express reason :-)

I will not work in "everybody gets an office" plans ever again. It felt like I was the last man on earth every day, you'd never see anybody. Horribly isolated environment. Glad to work in an open plan office.

That's the Weebly office

I disagree, big, open spaces force a certain quietness. Think of a big library or an empty theatre. Whereas if everything was filled with clutter or more desks, no one would feel the need to be quiet because everyone is so close it would be pointless to try.

Not a problem, since they don't actually use it that much. In REMOTE, they state that there are a maximum of 6 persons (they are 30+) at the office on any given day.

Actually I'd think the objects diffuse your echo more than the large open space contributes to it. But of course someone working there would have to comment for us to know :)

Made my hard drive swap, 2GB ram 90% filled.

Chromium seems conservative about large resources.