the.com/open plan
where privacy goes to die so companies can save on drywall.
means an office layout with no walls or private rooms, sold as collaboration and bought as cheaper square footage.
from pioneered as the burolandschaft (office landscape) in 1950s germany to encourage communication flow, then adopted globally in the 1990s mostly because it costs less per employee than offices with doors.
productivity claimstudies show face-to-face interaction actually drops, not rises
real motivefits more desks per square foot than private offices
noise costworkers lose roughly an hour daily to distraction
headphones salesrose sharply as offices removed walls