[Zigurd]

It's not so much open plan vs offices. It's quiet vs. not-quiet.

One of the most effective office setups I have seen had two kinds of work areas:

1) Reconfigurable "team rooms" where most of the team can work together. These have a door that is kept closed to reduce conversation noise leaking into other areas, and a glass wall so you can see who is in the team room. The other two interior walls can be moved to adjust the size of the team room.

2) On a different floor, there is an open quiet area equipped with large monitors for individual coding, writing, and CAD work.

There are other workspaces, such as lab rooms for fabricating things. Their larger locations have large shops with all kinds of fabrication equipment.

Everything is hot-desked. Many people spend part of the week working at home. The company with this workspace is a major design firm, and I'd wager they put a lot of thought and objective measurement into the design of their workspaces.