The new sports facility in Papendrechta small town in the Netherlands accommodates a swimming pool and large sports hall where different kinds of sports activity (e.g. basketball, indoor soccer, gymnastics) can take place. The brief for the project was written by specialists from the Dutch consultancy firm Synarchis and was over eighty pages long. The extensive nature of the brief had to do with the fact that a swimming pool is a fairly complex facility that entails a lot of requirements concerning hygiene and safety. It was also related to the decision to tender it as a Design and Build project. The brief acts as a delivery contract between the client and a contractor. Strategic objectives Functional requirements Technical requirementsThe projects brief did notThe functional part of the briefIn the technical part of the expend many words on strategicgave a detailed description ofbrief, most of the attention was goals for the project, other thanall the spaces that needed togiven to the swimming pools. to state that the new buildingbe realized in the building.Perhaps not surprisingly, there would replace three outdatedThe buildings entrance andwere six pages of text dedicated facilities, and that the newmain catering facility were toto the topic of water, listing building should be safe, efficientbe shared, but otherwise therequirements concerning water and well-functioning. Theswimming pool and the sportssupply, water treatment, water most important requirementhall needed to have their own setcirculation, water drainage, was that the project shouldof rooms, including changingwater temperatures and the use be realized within the givenrooms, storage facilities andof various water filterssand budget, which had been setspectator galleries.filters, urea filters, hair filters. In before the project was tendered.The requirements in the briefaddition to such fairly detailed In terms of architectural quality,were closely related to the kindtechnical requirements, the brief the brief stated that the newof sports that the building wouldreferred to a host of external facility should enhance theaccommodate. For the mainstandards set by the Dutch urban quality of the area andswimming pool, for example,sports association and Dutch lend the surrounding streetsthe brief mentioned that theswimming association, both of greater allure (instead of backs,ceiling grid should run parallelwhich have extensive guidelines there should be beautiful facadesto the pool because backstrokeconcerning the design of sports facing the street).swimmers use the ceiling grid forfacilities. coordination. Another sports-specific requirement was the swimming pools floor, which had to be completely level and smooth to cater for underwater hockey competitions. 155