[rob74]

Well yeah, but that collaboration is also often done via phone/videoconference, and some of the things discussed may not be for everyone's ears, so I can understand them wanting a private office. The logic behind cramming developers into open-space offices is more along the lines of "their job is more or less silent, and they don't have as many calls that could disturb the others, so we can put them all in a big room and save money, yay!".

[bluGill]

Walls are cheap. Depending on who you ask the HVAC is enough cheaper as to be worth it. (open offices are a nightmare to heat/cool: there are always temperature gradient across large rooms)

[sokoloff]

Walls and HVAC are cheap. What’s not cheap is all the additional square footage of floor plate to make offices work (additional space in the office itself, additional space for corridors, laying out architecture to allow sight lines to natural light, etc)

[bluGill]

Outside light is not required. There are a lot of offices without any windows in the US even in these days of the open office fad.

Different countries have different rules. Check you local laws before you put in an office without windows.

[cyphertruck]

That additional footage is cheap too when measured against the costs of the salary of the additional employees you need.

In fact, offices are cheaper because you don’t need to over staff by %100 and incur all that communications overhead.

[leetcrew]

cheaper still: open office and don't worry about things like temperature gradient or air quality.