Acoustical design of Turkish Religious Affairs Mosque

Abstract

The new Turkish Religious Affairs (DIB) Mosque with its prayer capacity and outstanding volume is the largest classical-contemporary mosque project of the past decade built in Ankara, Turkey. The Mosque is also one of unique examples of its scale for which the room acoustic design is applied in its design phase. Acoustical design of DIB Mosque is critical considering speech and music related activity patterns held in such religious spaces. Interior surface forms and materials of walls and pendentives, floor finishing alternatives, geometry, and finishing of the dome are studied simultaneously with the architectural design as early as in the concept phase. Impedance tube is used for testing alternative materials for specifying sound absorption characteristics of reliefs and perforations. Computer simulation is applied as an acoustical design tool and estimations are held by ODEON v.11.23. Objective acoustical parameters including reverberation time, speech transmission index, and A-weighted sound levels are assessed with and without sound reinforcement systems for fully and partially occupied mosque conditions. Auralizations are held for imam and muezzin in different forms of religious call out to prayers. Evaluation of the space indicates that the optimized acoustical field is proper for intended functions of use in a mosque and satisfies desired tranquil environment.

Acoustical Impact of Architectonics and Material Features in the Lifespan of Two Monumental Sacred Structures

“…For the optimization of sound absorption coefficients of current carpet two different sources were visited. Among those, one sample was tested under the scope of the CAHRISMA project [3] and the other is a previously tested carpet sample [50], which is widely used in Turkish Mosques. The sound absorption coefficient data of people on the prayer area applied in simulations-reflecting occupied state of the mosque-are taken from previous laboratory tests of mosque congregations [48].…”

“…In the records of construction documents of Süleymaniye Mosque such a platform is not mentioned [35]. This means that the original carpet′s sound absorption performance would be similar to that of today′s carpet for low frequencies, and not much of a difference is expected from high frequencies in reference to some other research on carpet effects′ in mosques [50]. One other significant piece of information is that in its original state, straw is laid underneath carpet of Süleymaniye Mosque [35], which would have provided a slight improvement in absorption of mid frequency sound content.…”

An Investigation on the Effects of Architectural Features on Acoustical Environment of Historical Mosques

“…According to the T30 results, masonry covered mosques have values as 1.99, 1.97, 1.95 and wooden covered mosques have the averages as 1.52, 1.27, 1.15, 1.48, 1.26. Just noticeable difference for T30 has specified to be 5% (0.1 s) in the literature [44]. In the group of masonry covered mosques, the perception does not change among the mosques.…”

“…The acoustical environment of a mosque should satisfy the spiritual aspects of worship while enabling the most proper environment for the perception of the imam and muezzin conveys. The functional space of a mosque should not be acoustically dull, as well as not excessively reverberant" [44]. Elkhateeb et al proposed a model for the optimum RT values: "There is much evidence to prove that long reverberation inside masjids is recommended because it enhances its spiritual role, whereas a short reverberation is neither functional nor reasonable.…”

Assessing the Effect of Dome Shape and Location on The Acoustical Performance of a Mosque by Using Computer Simulation

“…Furthermore, the speech intelligibility in a mosque is potentially being hampered by the reverberation time and/or echoes due to a presence of a large size of volume in a traditional mosque, and by sheltering elements that are mostly either domed or vaulted. The dome also reduces the effect of sound focusing due to it dropping the global reverberation time within the main prayer hall [27]. In this research, the main objective is to evaluate the acoustical performance i.e.…”