ABSTRACT
The main function of the open plan is to accommodate the vast majority of knowledge workers and facilitate their productive work. The fact that the open plan also caters to other business considerations, such as facilitating monitoring and control, and is driven above all by cost considerations, only serves to stoke the idealistic fervour of organisations to bring down the walls. Closed-off meeting rooms complemented the open plan, providing a confidential teamwork environment while protecting the open plan from distraction. Open plan is not however conducive to another host of essential knowledge-work tasks which depend on individual concentration. While concentration is a big problem, so too is the issue of confidentiality. Confidential work both on one's own and with colleagues has become an underrated aspect of knowledge work; it is both insufficiently catered for and not encouraged in the workplace.
