At GitHub we use conference tables that everyone sits around, along with a couple of couches if you wanna chill out somewhere else. We spent our first two years working out of coffee shops, so we replicated that environment without all of the additional noise and distractions.
If there's something that truly requires uninterruptible concentration, you just stay home and work there, or put in your noise-canceling headphones and zone everyone else out at the office.
When you work with people you consider friends, the last thing you want to do is sit in an office. For that reason alone, I'm not convinced offices make people more productive. I'd rather keep people happy and the productivity will follow.
If there's something that truly requires uninterruptible concentration, you just stay home and work there, or put in your noise-canceling headphones and zone everyone else out at the office.
When you work with people you consider friends, the last thing you want to do is sit in an office. For that reason alone, I'm not convinced offices make people more productive. I'd rather keep people happy and the productivity will follow.