DIGITALTWIN PILOT PROJECT FOR HOSPITAL SANT PAU I SANTA CREU IN BARCELONA
Year: 2024-2025 | Promoters: GOVERNMENT OF CATALUNYA, HOSPITAL SANT PAU
Firms: BIM6D / POWERBIM / Universitat Politecnica Catalunya
PROJECT EXPLANATION
The objective of this project is to develop a pilot test of digital twins to validate the use of the metaverse as a planning tool in complex environments, combining cultural and healthcare uses of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. This project will serve as the foundation for future implementations in other public sector environments, as the Government of Catalonia seeks to explore the potential of the metaverse for public uses in order to improve decision-making in public policies.
The Government of Catalunya wants to explore the potential of the metaverse for public uses, especially in spaces that combine cultural and health uses in the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. It seeks to improve decision-making in public policies through the matching between virtual spaces and reality.The main objectives of the contract are:
1. Explore the use of the metaverse in the public sphere, especially in the simulation of the occupation of spaces and the use of immersive realities in the health sector.
2. Expand the variety of health care spaces and processes in a virtual format to improve the user experience and be able to implement them in other clinical centers.
To respond to this contract, the team formed by BIM6D Consulting & Performance SL, POWERBIM SL, and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (inLab FIB unit) once again demonstrated their expertise and experience with this type of project, resulting in the interoperability of the digital twin with other platforms and information management systems at the hospital, optimizing the user experience (patients, visitors, and hospital staff) and enabling the integration of new technologies such as augmented reality and advanced digitaltwin systems for healthcare sector.
To respond to this contract, the team formed by the companies BIM6D Consulting & Performance SL, POWERBIM SL and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (inLab FIB unit), with demostrated experience in the development of digitaltwins for buildings and infrastructures, and their integration with metaverse technologies, by starting from the building, its systems and its spaces as assets to be managed, we can work in an integrated way in the two technological use cases (cultural modernist heritage + clinical assistance) proposed by the client.
THE FOUR DIGITAL SOLUTIONS PRESENTED IN THIS PROJECT:
CLINICAL ASSISTANCE DIGITALTWIN
In this case, the goal is clear: it is crucial to prepare patients for medical tests through an immersive experience that simulates the hospital route and environment.
For this, hospital spaces have been modeled in BIM, and a guided simulation has been created using avatars, 360° videos, and tools like Revit and Unreal Engine, with the aim of cloning the healthcare circuit so that the patient can train with virtual reality glasses before undergoing an interventional radiology procedure. This allows the user to familiarize themselves with the environment, view the room, and see the equipment involved while receiving a complete explanation from the medical team.
SIMULATION OF INTERVENTION PLANNING IN THE RADIOLOGY AREA
For this challenge, it was necessary to develop a digital twin web application to simulate the occupancy and patient flow in the hospital’s Diagnostic Imaging area. The primary objective was to identify bottlenecks and evaluate waiting times for CT scans and radiology procedures, considering the number of professionals, emergency percentage, types of tests, and medical devices, thus providing greater efficiency when making decisions regarding capacity peaks or technical failures.
Some key features of our solution:
- Very simple web interface to adapt to the hospital’s systems and tools.
- Fast simulation engine: processes complex scenarios in seconds, calculates occupancy, delays, and redistributes patients according to configurable rules (maximum wait time, cancellations, etc.).
- BIM-based 2D/3D visualization: shows the radiology plan or 3D model with dynamic panels indicating room occupancy and patient flow.
- Results export: each simulation generates a PDF report with all KPIs agreed upon with the clinical staff.
VIRTUAL TOURIST VISIT EXPERIENCE TO THE MODERNIST HERITAGE SITE
The use case for the cultural heritage of the Modernist complex, located within the Hospital, presents two aspects. The first is an application for the public to virtually visit certain areas of the modernist architectural ensemble. The second is an application dedicated to interactively visualizing different distribution configurations, equipment, and furniture in various event spaces within the building.
The objectives in this case were:
- Offer an immersive virtual experience through the metaverse to the modernist complex so that the public (citizens and foreign visitors) can appreciate the architectural and cultural quality of the spaces and learn about the events hosted by the venue.
- Provide an immersive virtual reality tool to realistically and interactively show how the different spaces rented for events can be configured, allowing interested parties to see and understand the different possibilities of these spaces and which one best suits their respective event.
For this solution, we started with the digital twin we have generated, which can be accessed through a public website to reserve or start visits on specific days and times, also offering the possibility of creating a personalized avatar.
The experience, which allows viewing the layout and furniture in the venue’s spaces, is exclusively for the service managers. They will provide the digital tool to interested parties so they can view the furniture arrangement and its organization in different spaces.
Both experiences are designed to be viewed on both computers and VR glasses.
We implemented an AI-powered chatbot. This AI allows users to interact with the AR environment naturally through conversational language, acting as a guide during their visit and serving as a valuable resource to answer frequently asked questions related to the experience. This enhances immersion.
