Multi-objective optimization of the floor plan of a single story family house considering position and orientation

Improving the architectural layout for diverse objectives using rigorous mathematical optimization methods gradually receives more attention by the researchers. Such optimization however, is usually reduced to a much simpler and relatively well-defined problem such as: facility layout optimization, quadratic assignment problem, rectangle partitioning. Nonetheless, architects are usually skeptical about such approaches since they produce solutions which lack certain architectural qualities. This paper proposes a framework where architectural functional layout (FL) is optimized for the following objectives: functionality (defined by users), insolation (calculated according to geographical conditions), outside view attractiveness (assessed on-site) and external noise (measured on-site). Incorporating the latter two and simultaneous optimization of FLs for objectives related specifically to the site: position and orientation are the novel contributions of this paper. Firstly, a set of candidate FLs is generated, next they are evaluated for optimal location and orientation on a given site. Optimality is conceived here as maximization of real-valued objective function combining: user's satisfaction level of the outside views, shielding from external noise, and insolation preference. The importance of these factors for each type of room is assessed by the user (as weights). A case study on an existing site is presented. The view quality was arbitrarily assessed and the noise map was assessed by A-weighted equivalent sound level measurements. A general gradient-based method for finding optimal and near-optimal solutions was applied. The output of this optimization is a set of room configurations with their locations and orientations on the site returned to the user for final selection.