How to design a better open office

I wrote this in response to an article a colleague wrote about our office. He really dislikes the open office layout and argues that everyone should have their own private office. I agree with him that our office isn't perfectly planned, but I don't agree we should all be in private offices -- I don't think that's the best solution, given the work we do. I sought out a lot of advice this week to find out what makes open offices work -- would really like to hear from any of you who have ideas about how to design these open layouts more intelligently.