Designing the liberal arts learning environment

A colleague recently e-mailed asking what I thought would make the best classroom environment for a philosophy classroom, or a liberal arts learning environment in general. While I am confident that the physical geography of a classroom makes a difference to how we (can) teach and how students learn, I'd never thought about the issue systematically. 

Some initial observations:

The standard college classroom is not, we might say, very learning-centered. As Donald Ritzenhein points out, if function follows form, then the implied function of a typical 'liberal arts classroom' (the desks in a row facing the teaching model) is to enable students to sit down — and zone out. It's a very inflexible, teacher-centered spatial design, not designed to facilitate interaction among students. 

The question is what would we want instead? Texas Wesleyan is an institution that has clearly given the matter some thought. Its Classroom Next is everything the traditional classroom isn't: designed for collaboration, with lecture possible but not the focus of the design; flexible and non-hierarchical; technology has a place, but not the place in the classroom; multiple whiteboards arrayed at classroom's edge). (Sorry for the slightly fuzzy diagram!)

I have to say, taking a look at this design, group work, student presentations, and other learning-centered approaches seem profoundly easier in this configuration.

So with that: What do you want out of a philosophy teaching environment? Is it along the lines of Classroom Next? What are the deficiencies of the learning environments we're typically provided?