JEW HOSPITAL construction in I ‘ Holland compete!)’ reflects the sentiments expressed by Dr. Kraus, which are quoted on page 21. New buildings are small, so that patients are housed in small groups; there is no feeling of restraint, of security; equipment and furnishings are normal. There are no special detention screens, bars, or light fixtuies, the environment is l)leasant and acceptable. In short, there are no special problems in designing especially for the mentally ill iii Holland. I find it impossible to improve upon this basic principle of building “normiially” for the mentally ill. Yet the only extraordinary thing about these diesigns is that the ’ have never before been used for psychiatric patients! It is possible to see, on the grounds of some Dutch hospitals, the progress from the large blocks designed for custodial care and l)uilt forty or fifty years ago; the smaller, more pleasant structures erected in the late twenties or earl thirties; and finall\, those which ivere built just prior to the war. It is the latter which fuilfil the need of the patients for a pleasant, normal enviromi iii cmi t-tlie factor most often ignored in our own larger hospital