Hospital layout design renovation as a Quadratic Assignment Problem with geodesic distances

Hospital facilities are known as functionally complex buildings. There usually configurational problems that lead to inefficient transportation processes for patients, medical staff, and/or logistics of materials. The Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) is a well-known problem in the field Operations Research from category facility's location/allocation problems. However, it has rarely been utilized architectural design practice. This paper presents formulation such issues QAP space planning aimed at renovation existing hospitals, heuristic solver developed CAD environment, and its implementation computational tool designed be used by architects. implemented C# Grasshopper (GH), plugin Rhinoceros software. minimizes internal between interrelated where each facility assigned location an building. In our model, assignment relaxed single may allowed allocated within multiple voxel locations, thus alleviating complexity unequal area problem. takes into account both flows distances locations. distance matrix obtained spatial network building using graph traversal techniques. also calculates geodesic (walkable, easiest, shortest paths pedestrians) inside solved optimization algorithm, called Iterated Local Search. Using one exemplary real test case, we demonstrate potential this method context hospital layout design/re-design tasks 3D. Finally, discuss results possible further developments concerning generic framework.