A Framework for Multi-Agent and Acoustic Simulation for Office Design

A large number of studies suggest that employees in an open-plan office are disturbed during their day-to-day work for a variety of reasons. In particular, disturbances caused by speech are difficult to estimate during the early design phase. Multi-agent models provide a way to predict the behaviour of diverse systems, including occupants. We introduce a framework combining multi-agent modelling with acoustic simulation to evaluate spatial layout at the early design phase. The framework provides results by evaluating trajectories and interactions between the agents throughout the simulation. The results are presented in the form of acoustic performance of the layout on the spatiotemporal scale along with performance matrices. The framework was assessed through a case study of an architectural office in Amsterdam.