I was about to write something similar to your post. I've
seen quite some replies that suggested one uniform environment.
Silly, because people are different. While some people prefer
a big "office garden", others prefer offices. I would hate
working in an "office garden", a large open area. I really
dislike it when people watch over my shoulder - and such an
open area would make me all itchy. I rather prefer cubicles
over a big open area. But in my opinion, offices are best.
Meeting rooms of various sizes are good too. Some people say
the less meetings, the better, but I disagree. Sometimes,
things need to be discussed, designed or reviewed, and you
need space for that.
Grouping your coders (by personality type) in pairs in offices with windows and doors like they do often in academia,
I'm currently working in a place where everyone has an office.
Most offices are shared between two people. Over the weekend,
we have a large (internal) move, and starting on Monday I'll
share a good sized office with one person, with a window
overlooking a train station.
Abigail