IELTS Writing Task 2

雅思真题 Topic:

Nowadays, some buildings such as offices and schools have open-space design instead of separate rooms.  Why is it so? Do you think that this is a positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

 原创范文

Essay by Jeenn Lee Hsieh:

These days, it is common to see an increasing number of open-plan offices and schools, particularly in most major cities where there is limited area for buildings.  The main reason for this trend is cost, of course, since the value of floor space has been rising.  While having an open-space design is usually cheaper, it is worthy of more research on the pros and cons of this development.

To begin with, being cheaper in cost is certainly not the only positive aspect about the growingly popular open-space concept.  Regarding the construction of schools or universities, the open-plan design is meant to play the dual role of social interaction among students and environmental enhancement on a compact campus in the urban setting.  This is made possible by eliminating barriers such as walls, fences and hedges that traditionally used to separate distinct functional areas.  Meanwhile, such advantages may as well happen to the office floor.  It is argued that there are better interaction between staff, less distinction between different rankings of co-workers, more flexible space, and more natural light because of the removal of inteior walls.  All these serve to explain the popularity of the open-space design.

As often as not, the open-space design may just turn out to be a negative development leading to stress, if nothing else.  On the campus, it is reported that students are exposed to high levels of stress in their learning activities.  Surveys repetively show the majority of them are experiencing significant stress as a result of interpersonal conflicts, self-esteem complexities, time constraints, academic frustrations and emotional problems.  Similar effects are even more apparent in the working environment on the office floor.  For instance, it is hard for staff to concentrate due to lack of privacy and feeling of being watched.  What is more, problems of constant noise are likely to lower staff performance.

To sum up, there are both good things and bad things about open schools or open offices.  While the recent trend toward the open-plan design can be explained as at least cost-efficient, it is also important to know that those benefits are typically offset by myriad distractions and stressful situations.  Independent of the cost factor, not all people like the open-space design.  (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh 谢振礼)