For years, companies blamed the open office for declining productivity. The culprit, we were told, was distraction: ringing phones, impromptu meetings and the constant hum of conversation.

Yet the return of private offices has not solved the problem.

What many workplaces lost was not focus but community. Open-plan offices were imperfect, often chaotic environments, but they created accidental encounters. Designers bumped into marketers. Editors met photographers. Ideas travelled across desks before they appeared in presentations.

Remote work delivered efficiency. What it did not always deliver was serendipity.

As companies redesign their headquarters, the question should not be whether people need walls or fewer meetings. It is whether the workplace can once again become a place where relationships are formed rather than merely managed.

The future office may be quieter than its predecessor. But it should not become lonelier.