This is an account of two workshops held to discuss factors which should be considered when briefing the design team on the planning of a major new health care facility. Current capital planning methods in the NHS and the formal Capricode procedure tend to concentrate on the `hard' objectives which can be quantified such as the clinical services to be provided; the internal and external spatial relationships; and the economic aspects of construction, operational and manpower costs. However, there may be `softer' factors which may equally important in influencing the success of a building: the social and cultural background of the people who will use and work in the hospital; the organisational objectives to be achieved by the building and the organisational design to achieve these objectives; and also, the way in which the physical environment is expected to affect behaviour.