Operating Room Design with BIM, VR, AR, and Interactive Simulation

Abstract

Operating room design is a complex planning task. In order to jointly find the best solution, specialists from numerous professions are involved in the planning process, since e.g. equipment layout and airflow is crucial for optimal surgical procedures. For a better and more informed discussion, and thus better optimization and firm decisions, we have developed a method linking BIM (Building Information Modelling), VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation, and a tangible user interface, so that freely configurable layouts can be tested interactively, be discussed, and optimized both in model and 1:1 scale already in early planning phases. This method has been applied to a hospital design with 33 new operating rooms, differing in sizes as well as layouts according to the different types of operations.