The effect of muqarnas on acoustic quality of traditional Turkish bath interior space

Abstract

Decorative “muqarnas” add charm to the design element and may influence the characteristics of an interior space. This study hypothesises that muqarnas in traditional Turkish baths (hammams) affect acoustic performances of such interior spaces. To test this hypothesis, a bath with muqarnas as the dome transition element was selected and a comparative study, in terms of acoustics quality with and without the decorative muqarnas, was conducted. Furthermore, the effect of different muqarnas configurations on acoustic quality of the interior space has been tested via optimisation simulations. With the use of optimisation model, a form of parametric muqarnas in the selected interior space was optimised according to the acoustic objectives. The optimisation tests were conducted with the objectives of increasing C50 (Clarity), C80, Reverberation Time (RT), Speech Transmission Index (STI), and decreasing RT. It was found that muqarnas do have an impact on acoustic performance of the interior space and the optimisation experiments suggest that different muqarnas configurations have different impact on the acoustic quality.