Cubicles are just awful.  It is often thought that the openness contributes to team building, but I still insist real relationships are not built in the office. The openness is also a huge drain on productivity especially for work that requires contiguous blocks of time. (Context switches are expensive, after all). My manager recognizes this, and although it's clear the cubicle farms aren't going away entirely we recently discussed strategies on how to address the productivity issue. 

Some of us already use some of the empty offices when we need to really buckle down, and it would be interesting if this was a bit more formal. (Call them office shares). Another suggestion was to have "work hours" such to guarantee uninterrupted blocks of time. 

Now there's a report that they're also a security risk.

The British security service MI5 is warning business leaders that their offices are probably badly designed against terrorist bombs. The common modern office consists of large rooms without internal walls, which puts employees at greater risk in the event of terrorist bombs.

More ammunition for my fight, and the security card is always a great one to play!