some research on open-plan offices (Score 1)

Researchers at our lab found satisfaction increased and prodcutivity doubled in programming teams that moved from offices to an open-plan office. Workers also had access to an unassigned outside office for private phone calls, deep-think problems, etc. This study didn't include cubicles, although I tend to agree with OxB that cubes are the worst of both options without the benefits.

The reference is: Teasley, S.D., Covi, L., Krishnan, M.S., & Olson, J.S. (2000). How does radical collocation help a team succeed? In Proceedings of CSCW 2000 (pp. 339-346). New York: ACM Press.

Contact me or the authors and we can send you a pdf. See also the technical reports link from the CREW web page at crew.umich.edu