Hi
I've just read your blog and I agree that email seems to be the most used method of communication in an office environment, but wouldn't it be nice if people actually talked face to face instead?! I'm old school I guess, and I suppose that as people are so busy, firing off a short reply to an email is quicker.
One thing I would like to discuss is your point about comfy meeting furniture. Imperative for long meetings, but not ideal for a quick chat or catch up, so do consider more stand-up meeting tables so that there are no chairs at all, just a tall table to put a laptop/notepad/drawing etc down on for discussion. If no one is sitting, the meeting will naturally be shorter and I am sure there is some science somewhere that says standing up helps promote new ideas!
Just a thought, but I think that a range of office furniture that covers all the bases - long meetings, short meetings, quick chats, 1 on 1 chats, have-a-quick-squiz-at-this-on-my-laptop chats - would be fantastic.