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Open plan offices with low partitions and no cubicles makes for a much more pleasant working environment IMHO
Best situation I ever had was a private office. It is horribly frustrating when I am deep in thought and some conversation (even work related) bursts out around me and I am distracted. This happens all of the time when I am working in the current cubes we have. Yeah I use headphones a lot, and that helps, but sometimes when I'm deep in thought I don't want even songs distracting me.

As for supporting documentation, Steve Mconnell says that noisy environments cause delays in software project schedules (see "Rapid Development"). I assume that different jobs have different needs, but for a mental job that is mostly problem solving, having a private space (it doesn't have to be large) is a huge productivity booster.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.