Automated building layout generation: Implementation and comparison of STREAMER Early Design Configurator and SDaC Layout Designer

When designing new buildings, various constraints must be taken into account. These constraints encompass factors such as the overall building size, the number, function, and size of required spaces, and even the surrounding neighborhood's existing buildings, infrastructure, and natural environment. Particularly the requirements of interior layout design are usually coupled with each other, making the design process more complex and time-consuming. This paper proposes a novel manner to consider the requirements, aiming to facilitate the generation process of building's interior layout during the early design phase. Besides, this paper aims to generate vectored output, which is more applicable to export BIM model, which also benefits the subsequent design and construct steps. This paper introduces STREAMER Early Design Configurator (EDC) and SDaC Layout Designer, both of which formats the user's requirements, semiautomatically generates interior layouts and exports IFC models of the floor plans. STREAMER EDC is used to discover the potential layouts of large-scale buildings with many rooms such as hospitals, while SDaC Layout Designer focuses on residential houses with comparatively fewer rooms. These drafts are enriched with additional data, including placement information, volume details, and space utilization. Ultimately, the floor plans are exported into three-dimensional objects and exported in the IFC format. This comprehensive step paves the way for more efficient and informed building design, promoting greater flexibility and adaptability in the early stages of the architectural process.