In a large commercial barn with horses constantly coming in and out, this makes sense. With a more stable herd, the benefits of social interaction can outweigh the risks of herd living IF properly managed. Interactions through a stall bar or over a fence don’t entirely fulfill equine social needs, but can work when there are mitigating factors.
Also, it really does vary by region and discipline. I would not board any of mine at a place that didn’t do group turnout.
There are plenty of horses and situations that are not suitable for group turnout.
With ranch horses, you weed out those horses that won’t work in the herd, but when you have performance horses, the criteria is different.
We even kept our stallion with our geldings, because he was raised with and was ok with them.
A good performance horse, even if it can’t be safely turned out with others, is still valuable, with the right kind of management that protects that horse and others.
I personally love watching herd dynamics among my lesson horses and my homebreds. You learn so much about them all. All my homebreds grew up in large herds and know their way around a group. It’s so interesting to see others get gently re-directed. And I recently discovered that sibling horses will jointly dominate a larger group. Take one sibling away and the lone sibling may fall several pegs lower in the heirarchy. Anyway, I digress! And my lesson horses will continue to enjoy being en masse when they move. But it sure will be nice to stop worrying about 100k boarder horses getting dents. 
I’ll say my horse got his worst injury (torn suspensory) in individual turnout, so honestly just plan for what works best for you! He crashed through the fence and came galloping up the hill because someone took the “wrong” neighbor up for a ride and the other neighbor was on stall rest.
One benefit of good sized solo paddocks is you can have hind shoes on without worrying about horses brass-knuckling each other. But solo paddocks don’t always mitigate the “someone took my friend away and I’m gonna FREAK” aspect. YMMV but there’s pros and cons to ALL management decisions.
Fun post. I’m excited for you in this new venture. My 2 cents, if you are looking for acreage per horse to cover the cost of hay, plan to rotate and pick the paddocks, otherwise the grass won’t be great. In the spring and early summer, no problem. For the rest of the year the grass can get over-grazed and weedy. Horses might still graze on it, but they aren’t getting the nutrition they would get from good quality hay.
As far as layout goes, try an aerial maps search of areas where reputable large barns are and study their paddock layout.
Look up e.g. “track grazing for horses” or “track system” or “paddock paradise” on Google. Grazing horses on restricted “tracks” rather than just in a big field is becoming increasingly popular in the UK because it keeps the horses entertained, replicates natural grazing behaviour, encourages movement, keeps off excess weight, is better for the grass and, with careful management, I suspect it allows a higher stocking rate.
Depending on where you are (is there a land grant college or university near you?), you might have a Cooperative Extension Service, which has experts in many different areas. You can also check with the Soil Conservation district (in my area, they are run by the same system). Keep in mind that Soil Conservation is designed to be conservative on animal units on acreage, since they are all about conserving soil. But they are an excellent resource for guidance in fencing and land management.
Thursday this week I had MSU Extension visit my farm giving me incredible (free!!) support on how to configure my pastures for my new farm.
After he left, I had definitive feedback on my best pasture/dry lot/mud management, field rotation management, for my fence planning unique for my number of horses.
Fencing is so expensive, that I was feeling the need for professional support in regards to my specific situation. I’m trying to avoid mistakes, when putting in all of that new fencing. He answered all questions, and gave me a definitive plan.
You should also have an Extension office in your area for support. I was SO impressed with all of the feedback/planning that I received.
You are going to want the watering stations close enough that you can able to easily get eyes on them daily to make sure things are working correctly.
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