For complex facilities, the brief may be prepared by a specialist consultant, separate from the design architect. In such projects, workshops are often employed with project participants: owners, users, customers, facility experts, builders/contractors and other designers brought together for an intensive one- or two-day period to devise the critical aspects of the brief.
If the brief will provide a large number of similar spaces, for example, in a hospital, then room/space 'types' might be defined, as a type of 'space dictionary' that is then used to inform room or space groupings. These space groupings are then assembled into related sets of rooms to meet a functional or service requirement. The critical component of the related sets is that the interactions between rooms are set out, with details as to the type of interaction. For example, if escorted patients, beds and medical equipment are to be moved, or if individuals or groups of people will move between spaces, the architect's design will need to acknowledge the different design responses to be made.
The information used to assemble a 'space dictionary' can be quite detailed, with a schedule produced that lists, for each room, parameters, the requirement against the parameter, and any particular performance needs.
Parameters might include: population (median and peak), area, minimum height, floor loading, floor finish and skirting requirements, including any plinths, hobs or set-downs, wall finishes, including wall protection needs (pertinent in hospitals, warehouses, etc.), ceiling finish, including acoustic needs, engineering services required: power, lighting, air-conditioning, water, drainage, communications, etc.; environmental conditions: air temperature, humidity, noise level, air movement; access and security needs; FFE (furniture, fittings and equipment), with note made of mass, dimensions, power requirements, energy evolved, noise produced, ventilation and extraction needed, service and operating clearances; fire safety.
A thorough brief will start with a definition of the services or functions to be accommodated, decomposing these functions into specific sub-functions and then to activities. A 'functional brief' is thus compiled. This brief is used to, in turn, create the architectural brief, that sets out the accommodation specifics for preparation of design options.