A briefing game for school building design

Abstract The architectural design process is complex, as new technical, social, environmental and economical requirements are introduced, and this very scenario is applicable for school buildings. The quality of a school building depends on known design criteria, professional knowledge and feedback from building performance assessments. To attain high performance school buildings, the design process should add a multidisciplinary team via an integrated process. This article presents a design tool to structure a school building design briefing process. A participatory architectural programming phase is advocated and tested through a focal group, supported by a game called “Shuffle the School Building Design Deck” (SSBDD). The content of SSBDD and application procedure are based on known facts, needs and global concepts for learning environments in the twenty-first century. The briefing game considers the specific context of Brazil. Validation tests show positive results for productive architectural programming for school buildings. SSBDD has potential for global contexts, including translations for other building types.