Open-plan office? No, thanks – I’d rather get some work done | Oliver Burkeman

It may seem cheaper to get rid of walls, but it’s definitely not smarterHorrified amusement was the main reaction last month when Panasonic announced Wear Space, a prototype product that can only really be described as horse blinders for humans. The wraparound head-shield, which includes noise-cancelling headphones, is a sleek, contemporary way to prevent distractions from colleagues in open-plan offices – a result I’ve previously had to achieve by means of towering piles of bo