This paper addresses the problem of deriving optimised a m y architectures for real-time multi-dimensional signal pmessing systems, as occurring in image, speech and video applications. The starting point is a set of Weak Single Assignmen Codes (wsAc'8 [ l S ] ) . For this abstract specification, we solve the dificult task of finding a globally optimised architecture with matched throughput while avoiding an ezplosion of the search space. The cost function not only includes the data-path a m but incorporates also the crucial foreground and background memory storage. The effectiveness of our solution has k e n substantiated with realistic test cases.