To your point, I've noticed open floor plans often offer less flexibility. E.g. having a formal dining room allows you to turn it into an office or another bedroom much more easily.
Old houses are larger even when smaller - often because they have these things called “walls” and “doors” that make “rooms” out of open concept spaces.
I do get amused about how everyone hates cube farms but loves open concept.
Do people (the workers) actually hate cube farms? Between open floors and your own cubicle, I'd take a cubicle every time.
I thought open floors only became a thing because companies realized they can save money and workers would put up with it, which doesn't seem to be wrong.
Noise cancelling headphones will help ambient noise. But it won’t help when you are being actively interrupted for “just one question”. When I’m at home, I can block time on my calendar for “deep work”, shut down Outlook and Slack. I set my Slack status to “doing deep work until X:00”
