Analyzing Noise Abatement-Related Architectural Elements within Cairo’s Historical Religious Buildings (An Analytic Study)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

High Institute of Tourism and Monuments Restoration – Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

Analyzing Noise Abatement-Related Architectural Elements within Cairo’s Historical Religious Buildings
(An Analytic Study)
Abstract
This paper aims in the first place at underscoring and analyzing multiple architectural elements that featured special acoustic effects in Cairo’s historical religious architecture. Accordingly, the study could possibly prove that those architectural /acoustic elements played an axial role in reducing or partially eliminating the noise leakage from the surrounding vicinity to the interior of the religious premises in terms of creating a better soundscape for the Muslim worshippers.
This reserch aims chiefly at analyzing the different architectural elements along with the special pieces of furniture which have contributed to the creation of the soundscape of Cairo's religious buildings. The analysis should be able to determine which elements were introduced to serve solely for an acoustic purpose. Other elements were originally introduced to serve another purpose but partially contributed to one or more acoustic dimension in the premises. Those elements could be classified into two categories;
First: sound transmission elements; namely, the minaret, the minbar, the dikka, the kursi, and the fenestration; second: sound diffusion and amplification elements; namely, the mihrab, the dome, and the muqarnas.
Surprisingly, when architects aimed at creating a quality soundscape within religious buildings, they also resorted to noise reduction techniques.
Another important aspect to analyze here is the factual acoustic aspects, that is to say determining the rate of sound diffusion and intelligibility in major Cairene religious buildings from the time of the Arab conquest through the reign of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha. The selection is based on the fact that each building has featured a specific architectural development, whether in its architectural design or through introducing an acoustic-related architectural novelty. According to the

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References

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