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Inadequate transition cow facilities can cause reduced dairy herd performance in the subsequent lactation. Facilities designed for transition and special needs cows should facilitate the management plan and protocols developed by the dairy herd manager and team. As herds become larger and management demands for improved cow care increase, a variety of small transition and special cow groups emerge. This paper discusses the design process, design principles, and defines the number and size of special cow groups based on field experience and observations of the authors, and other literature. Properly designed facilities which consider cow comfort, worker safety, the labor for managing and caring for these special cow groups will improve the dairy herd production as well as improve environmental protection.