Comparative floorplan analysis to identify typologies of radio-therapy departments

1) objective/aim: This paper establishes typologies and spatial criteria by analyzing floorplans of radiotherapy departments in German hospitals. 2) background: The configuration of room clus-ters is a useful tool in early stages of planning radiotherapy departments. Currently there is a lack of planning requirements. With the implementation of evidence-based typologies, workflow and patient-stay can be positively influenced. 3) methods: For developing typologies and planning re-quirements a comparative floorplan-analysis from 20 radiotherapy departments in Germany was conducted. Given the complexity of radiotherapy departments, a list of rooms was com-posed, and cluster-formations were defined in correlation with the workflow of radiotherapy treatment. The rooms of the analyzed floorplans were categorized by the cluster-formations to identify their relation and arrangement towards one another. The analysis was inspecting dif-ferences and similarities in patterns of spatial relationship. 4 )results: With this comparative floorplan-analysis, a classification of radiotherapy departments on the basis of organizational and spatial characteristics was developed. Five clusters were defined: Reception, Outpatient, Im-aging, Planning and Therapy with each dedicated rooms. Typologies and spatial characteristics were derived and visualized. 5) conclusion: The comparative analysis of floorplans shows a spectrum of built environment and cluster arrangements, which lead to typologies and planning requirements. Further research will be conducted by combining these typologies with workflow, individual travel paths, environment-behavior and requirements of all user groups and expert knowledge. With this multilayered research, design recommendations for planning radiotherapy departments can be identified.