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Gosh it sounds as though some of the commentators are more like dinosaurs than Virginia.
There has been little mention of the positives, including: better IT due to investment - ability to work from home (or wherever) with the use of laptops and soft phones - agile hot-desking by merely plugging in the power lead and network cable into the laptop at any agile desk in any of our regional offices - having two screens - investment in quiet rooms and discussion areas (aka soft play areas) - much more video conferencing equipment, which is also used for team discussion (again just plug in the network cable and off you go) - true electronic filing and almost paperless working which has reduced paper consumption and is better for the environment etc etc.
In practice teams have designated areas, they just overlap at the edges with the ebbs and flows of who is in the office at any particular time. It has stimulated a more collegiate approach amongst the 300 people based in the Leeds office as we are now on 2.5 floors as opposed to two buildings, resulting in more cross fertilisation of ideas/discussion rather than those who used to work in their own teams/silos. Oh and it cuts property costs too.
There is nothing stopping anyone having photos or other mementoes on their desk - they just get packed away into their lockers at night.
There is no denying that it has required people to change the way they work, but in practice everyone is different and has different expectations of the working environment - this is more geared to how generation X and Y might expect to work, rather than the dinosaurs.