Programming of buildings

A vital function of a building is spatial organisation of activity. Designing must have a sound insight into points of departure objectives and wishes of users: their activities, organisational structure and ensuing spatial consequences. When a new organisation is looking for an adress; or when an existing organisation has decided that present premises are no longer suitable, a lot of thought should be spent on possible and desirable variants of solution. Instances are: remodelling, expansion, disposing of (a part of) the building, joining, moving into another building, or (commissioning the) designing of a new building. In order to ensure that the building supports activities in an adequate way with respect to cultural, aesthetic, economic, climatical, technical and judicial considerations, the requirements must be carefully charted.
This is also mandatory for weighing alternatives against one another and for ascertaining whether wishes and potentials match. It is extremely rare, that what is deemed desirable is completely feasible in terms of time and money as well. Present laws and rules delimit possibilities as well. This necessitates formulating priorities and making choices. Charting requirements, wishes and boundary conditions is termed in the building process ‘programming’; or ‘briefing’.
In this contribution we discuss how programming of buildings is effectuated and identify the means available to trace and record wishes and requirements in a document: the programme of requirements, or brief. These requirements must get the form of a description of the performance to be delivered. They may be of a quantitative or ualitative nature and have regard to location, building, spaces, building parts and facilities.