This project concerns a prison facility with room for over 1000 detainees. The building was commissioned to replace a number of older facilities, which were deemed outdated and inefficient. The project was tendered as a public-private partnership (or ppp) project, which means that the tender includes not only the design and construction of the building, but also its maintenance and parts of its operation. The brief acted as a contract document in the tender procedure and it was thus crucial that the brief be complete and unambiguous in its requirements.Strategic objectives Functional requirements Technical requirementsThe projects strategic briefThe functional part of the briefCompared with a traditional (which was used in the firstdescribed the projects mainbrief, the level of technical detail phase of the tender) mentionedspatial needs, differentiatingwas fairly limited. The clients several objectives. Chief ofbetween accommodation areasintention was to give the market these was the desire to create a(with cells, kitchens and activityparties and their design teams detention facility that wouldareas), isolation areas (isolationthe freedom to come up with be safe and secure for bothcells with separate outdoornew, smart design solutions. inmates and staff. Anotherareas), an activity centre (withEven so, the brief was quite crucial objective concernedsports facilities, workplacesexplicit about the design of efficiency of operation. Theand a library), a services areacrucial elements such as the cells, brief explicitly stated that the(dentist, treatment rooms),specifying that walls should new building should reduce thestaff areas (offices, guard posts)made of reinforced concrete, need for correctional personnel,and outdoor areas. For eachdoors of steel, and that the doors stating that where possible,area and room type, the briefshould have a specific kind of electronic means should be usedgave an indication of size and alock. Furthermore, the brief to allow for efficient staffing.description of the activities tostipulated detailed requirements Concerning the buildingsbe facilitated. For the cells, forfor the indoor climate of all the architecture, the strategicexample, it stated that thesemain spaces to ensure both staff brief stated that the buildingsshould be able to accommodateand detainee health and well-architectural expressiontwo detainees, measure at leastbeing.should be one of soberness and12 square metres, and allow efficiency. The terms calmnessdetainees to sleep, relax, read and and simplicity were used towrite, and eat in their cell.describe the desired internalThe brief contained several atmosphere. relation diagrams visualizing how the different areas should be organized logistically. For the visitor area, for example, the positioning of spaces has to ensure that there are no uncontrolled interactions between visitors and detainees, or between arriving and departing visitors (see diagram opposite page). (-) This project description has been anonymized for reasons of confidentiality.