title: Space Syntax Analysis: Tools for Augmenting the Precision of Healthcare Facility Spatial Analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article reviews and addresses various spatial measures that provide and facilitate accurate descriptions of different layout typologies with particular focus on healthcare facilities.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Evidence-based design is a field of study that emphasizes the importance of using credible data in order to influence the design process. It addresses whether/how the design and operation of buildings support positive health outcomes through a growing collection of solutions informed by research and practical knowledge. In order to acquire this knowledge, we must consider the environment in a very precise and measurable way, which can then be investigated quantitatively with regard to various human behaviors and cognitive processes.
  Space Syntax theory and methods are concerned with understanding how spaces are arranged and connected to one another. It provides quantitative measures of individual spaces and of the entire layout, thereby achieving great accuracy. Space Syntax researchers have used graph theory to define spatial measures and have produced computer tools to quantify the relational properties of spaces and to provide numerical and display values for each. Moreover, they have developed more precise tools that can be embedded within basic Space Syntax concepts in order to augment the credibility of the acquired data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study elaborates on the effectiveness of Space Syntax and its newly developed measures for the field of healthcare facility design and research. We present a comprehensive model that brings together these measures with their correlated behavioral and perceptual consequences, thereby providing a point of departure for further investigation and exploration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ahmed-sadek@hotmail.com sadeka@student.unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ahmed Hassem
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Sadek
authors.affiliation: Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Mardelle McCuskey
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shepley
mesh_terms: D001108:Architecture; D005160:Facility Design and Construction / Q000379:methods*; D006268:Health Facilities; D062206:Spatial Analysis
keywords: Space Syntax; behavior; evidence-based design; healthcare; spatial analysis