What a brief is for
A brief has one job: to let someone who was not in the room design the right building. It is not a wish list and it is not a plan. It records purpose, users, spaces, relationships, site, money and priorities in a form that can be tested — so that when the first scheme arrives, both sides can say whether it answers the brief or quietly departs from it.
The professional frameworks agree on where this sits. In the RIBA Plan of Work 2020, the eight stages run from Stage 0 Strategic Definition to Stage 7 Use, and the brief belongs to Stage 1, Preparation and Briefing, whose stated outcome is a "Project Brief approved by the client and confirmed that it can be accommodated on the site". The core tasks of that stage are to "Prepare Project Brief including Project Outcomes and Sustainability Outcomes, Quality Aspirations and Spatial Requirements", to undertake feasibility studies, to agree the project budget and to source site information. Only then does Stage 2, Concept Design, aim for an "Architectural Concept approved by the client and aligned to the Project Brief".
Industry guidance also distinguishes the documents that lead up to it. Designing Buildings Wiki describes a statement of need as "the client's very first attempt to describe their possible requirements", a strategic brief that gives enough information "to allow the appointment of a consultant team", and the project brief as "the key document upon which the design will be based", which "is frozen at the end of the concept design stage" with later changes going through change control. Keep those three apart: most bad briefs are a statement of need pretending to be a project brief.
A checklist standard for the contents of a brief has existed since 1994 (ISO 9699, now withdrawn and superseded by ISO 19208:2016). You do not need the standard to write a good brief for a house, but its existence makes the point: the contents are a known list, not an art.
The eight parts, in order
Write the brief in the order a designer needs to read it. Each part is short; the schedule carries the detail.
- Purpose. One paragraph: what the building is for and what success looks like in a year. "A family house for two adults and three children that will still work when the children have left" is a purpose. "A modern house" is not.
- People. Who uses it, how many, at what times, and any specific needs: mobility, privacy between generations, working from home, guests, staff.
- Spaces and areas. The room schedule. For each space: a name, the number of occupants, a target area in square metres, whether it is a target or a limit, and one line on character (daylight, view, quiet, height). Give a total gross floor area as a range, not a point.
- Relationships. Which spaces must be adjacent, which should be close, which must be apart. This is the part designers use most and clients write least. An adjacency list or a simple matrix does the job.
- Site. Address or plot reference, dimensions, orientation, access points, levels, neighbours, trees, views to keep and to block, known constraints such as setbacks and height limits, and what you do not yet know. Say which of these are confirmed by survey and which are assumptions.
- Money and time. A budget class or a range with what it includes and excludes, and the dates that matter. A brief without a budget class produces a scheme that will be redesigned once the cost arrives.
- Priorities and character. Three to five things that matter most, in order, plus the qualities you want the building to have. Naming a reference building is fine if you say what about it you like.
- Fixed and open. What is decided and will not move, and what is deliberately left to the designer. This is the paragraph that saves the most time later.
Two rules run through all eight. Every number gets a label: target, minimum, maximum or assumption. And every "must" is a real constraint; if it can bend, call it a preference.
A one-page template
The table below is the whole template. Copy it, fill the right-hand column, and attach the room schedule beneath it.
| Part | Write here |
|---|---|
| Purpose | One paragraph on what the building is for and what success looks like. |
| People | Who, how many, when; specific needs. |
| Spaces and areas | See schedule below; total GFA as a range. |
| Relationships | Adjacent / close / apart, per pair that matters. |
| Site | Plot, orientation, access, levels, constraints; confirmed vs assumed. |
| Money and time | Budget class or range and what it covers; key dates. |
| Priorities and character | Three to five priorities in order; qualities; references. |
| Fixed and open | What will not move; what is the designer's to decide. |
Room schedule columns: space · occupants · target m² · target/limit · character · must be near · must be away from.
The template filled in: a courtyard house
Here is the template completed for a plausible brief — a two-storey family house of about 250 m² on a suburban plot in a hot, dry climate. The numbers are illustrative targets, not code figures; your jurisdiction's minimum room sizes and daylight rules will differ, and this article does not replace them.
Purpose. A house for two adults and three children (ages 6–14) that gives the family a shaded outdoor room they use daily, and that will still suit the couple when the children leave.
People. Five residents; grandparents stay for weeks at a time; one adult works from home three days a week; frequent guests in the evening.
Spaces and areas. Ground floor: entry 8 m² (limit 10), living 35 m² (target), dining 18 m², kitchen 16 m², guest room with own bathroom 22 m², study 12 m² (minimum 10), WC 3 m², utility 6 m², courtyard 40 m² open to sky (target, not counted in GFA). Upper floor: primary bedroom with bathroom 30 m², three bedrooms 14 m² each (minimum 12), family bathroom 7 m², landing/reading space 10 m². Total GFA 240–270 m² excluding the courtyard.
Relationships. Kitchen adjacent to dining; dining open to living; living and dining both open to the courtyard; guest room near the entry and away from the family bedrooms; study near the entry so visitors do not cross the family space; utility next to the kitchen with a route to outside; children's bedrooms together and near the family bathroom.
Site. Plot 18 m × 26 m, long axis north–south, street on the north (short) side, neighbours on east and west with two-storey houses, a mature olive tree in the south-west corner to keep. Assumed setbacks 5 m front and 3 m sides pending confirmation from the municipality; assumed height limit two storeys plus roof terrace.
Money and time. Mid-range construction quality; budget to be confirmed against the first cost plan; move in within twenty months of appointment.
Priorities and character. In order: shade and privacy of the courtyard; daylight to every bedroom; a kitchen that is the centre of the house; low running costs; a calm, unfussy exterior. Exposed concrete and local stone are welcome; no glass balustrades.
Fixed and open. Fixed: the olive tree stays; the courtyard is central; the entrance is from the north. Open: the position of the stair, the roof form, whether the guest room is a separate wing, and everything about the façade.
Notice what this brief does not do. It does not draw the plan. It does not say the courtyard is square. It gives the designer the relationships and the priorities and leaves the arrangement to them — which is exactly what makes the first scheme worth reviewing.
Common mistakes
- Areas without a label. "Living room 35 m²" reads as a promise. "Living 35 m² target" reads as a brief.
- Adjacencies left implicit. If the guest room ends up beside the children's rooms, the brief that never mentioned it cannot complain.
- A statement of need dressed as a project brief. If half the numbers are guesses, say so and plan a briefing round rather than freezing them.
- Priorities as a list of everything. Five priorities in order are useful; twenty are noise.
- No "open" paragraph. Designers cannot tell whether your silence is permission or oversight.
From brief to first plan
A brief written this way is also the input a schematic tool can act on. Parapet, which is in early access for architects, takes a written brief like the courtyard house above and produces an editable schematic plan and massing, then lets you change it by conversation ("make the courtyard 3 m wider") or by dragging a room edge — both recorded as the same undoable change. Where the plan cannot honour the brief (a room drawn smaller than its target, a relationship it could not satisfy) it says so rather than hiding it. It is a starting point for professional review, not a compliance check and not construction documentation. If that is useful for your practice, you can request early access, or read the other guides in the resources index.