[olau]

Do you have a citation for the "more creative in groups"? Some years ago I participated in a creativity/innovation course, and one of the things we were taught was the brainstorming in groups had been found to be ineffective (because of group think, I think).

I do agree that occasional chatting/communication is important otherwise, though, although I'm not really sure open plans foster that - seems to me to foster broadcasting rather than more productive one-on-one conversations.

[christophilus]

Right. Look up John Kleese's talk on creativity for a convincing explanation of why solitude is critical to the process.

[billirvine]

Sure. But it's only part of it. And Kleese considers solitude the be distraction that the creative process also needs.