Abstract: A facility layout design is often developed in a hierarchical way that identifies a material flow pattern in the first step and then develops a machine layout based on the material flow pattern in the next step. Popular material flow patterns in practice include spine-flow, I-flow, U-flow and circular flow. This study proposes a new unconventional material flow pattern named the Pier-type Material Flow Pattern (PMFP) and studies layout methodologies including a machine layout problem and a shortcut adding problem for the new material flow pattern. A pier in the PMFP is a unit that forms a single or double row layout in a complete layout design. Using the methodologies, layout designers could obtain not only a reasonably good machine layout but also an appropriate number of piers for a given layout problem.