Workspace enclosure

Open, enclosed, cellular or shared office condition

family: Workplace

ND-0019 · 2011 · Experimental study
Moderate-high Direct built environment
Open-plan office noise: Cognitive performance and restoration
Jahncke et al. Journal of Environmental Psychology
Higher office noise impaired word memory and increased tiredness; restorative content after exposure helped recover perceived energy.
ND-0022 · 2020 · Experimental study
Moderate Direct built environment
Irrelevant speech effect in open-plan offices: A laboratory study
Kostallari et al. Applied Acoustics
Irrelevant speech degraded aspects of cognitive task performance in an office-like context.
ND-0072 · 2021 · Systematic review
High Direct built environment
A Comparison of Psychological and Work Outcomes in Open-Plan and Cellular Office Designs: A Systematic Review
James, Delfabbro & King. SAGE Open
Open-plan offices were more often associated with poorer health, satisfaction and productivity-related outcomes, with noise and privacy recurring as major issues.
ND-0073 · 2005 · Systematic review
High Direct built environment
The effect of office concepts on worker health and performance: a systematic review of the literature
de Croon et al. Ergonomics / Occupational literature
Strong evidence linked open workplaces with reduced privacy and job satisfaction; limited evidence linked openness and close workstation distance with higher cognitive workload.
ND-0074 · 2013 · Field survey analysis
Moderate-high Direct built environment
Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices
Kim & de Dear. Journal of Environmental Psychology
Noise and loss of privacy were major sources of dissatisfaction, and perceived communication benefits did not offset them in more open layouts.
ND-0119 · 2002 · Technical report
Moderate-high Direct built environment
Open-plan office density and environmental satisfaction
Duval, Charles & Veitch. National Research Council Canada
Reviews evidence that open-plan density can affect environmental satisfaction and related perceptions.
ND-0120 · 2022 · Systematic literature review
High Direct built environment
Methodological considerations in the open-plan office paradox
Authors per journal record. Work
Findings on open-plan outcomes depend partly on which variables and methods researchers choose, explaining some apparent contradictions.
ND-0134 · 2026 · Experimental EEG study
Moderate Adjacent human mechanism
Neural signatures of auditory distraction and cognitive demand during working memory performance
Leitner & Wriessnegger. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 20, 1919376
Accuracy rose slightly under distraction alone and under time pressure alone, relative to baseline, and fell only when the two occurred together. Single demands appeared to be absorbed by compensatory effort; the combination was not.