Proximity Matters

Thomas Allen of MIT is considered on e of the progenitors of modern office design. In a ten-year study of engineering in R&D labs, Allen found that proximity matters: People interact most with those located close to them; people seated more than seventy-five feet apart rarely interact at all. Other studies found that software developers, like many creative workers, need both interaction and intense, focused concentration. When people had the “flow” of their creative work interrupted, it typically took them 20 to 30 minutes to refocus. Source: Creative Class.