Problem
What is the right balance between privacy and connection in office work?
Solution
Avoid closed off, separate, or private offices. Make every workroom, whether it is for a group of two or three people or for one person, half-open to the other workgroups and the world immediately beyond it. At the front, just inside the door, make comfortable sitting space, with the actual workspace(s) away from the door, and further back.
Related Patterns
… within the overall arrangement of group space and individual working space provided by Intimacy Gradient (127), Flexible Office Space (146), and Small Work Groups (148), this pattern shapes the individual rooms and offices. The pattern also helps to generate the organization of these larger patterns.
Shape each office in detail, according to The Shape of Indoor Space (191) give it windows on at least two sides - Light on Two Sides of Every Room (159); make individual workspaces in the corners - Workspace Enclosure (183), looking out of windows - Windows Overlooking Life (192); make the sitting area toward the door as comfortable as possible - Sitting Circle (185) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 717.