Open-office plans have gained a lot of steam within the past 20 years because of various companies adopting them for various reasons. Some companies wanted to project a fun, 'anti-corporate' vibe, much like an alien pretending to be human at a party. Others just wanted to save money on office-space.

Turns out, open offices are worse than cubicles on most measures. One study found that employees in open offices actually talked less because they were afraid of disturbing coworkers, and surveys often find that open offices are negatively correlated with job satisfaction.

So people are swinging back towards cubicles, and tastefully designed ones if I may say so myself. I think Penn could use some of these. I'm a fan of the semi-transparent ones (3 walls and a pane of glass). Overall, I think this is very innovative. Here's an article about the rise of cubicles:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90305213/the-hip-new-open-plan-office-trend-cubicles

Here's a video on the origin and history of open-offices:

https://youtu.be/-p6WWRarjNs