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Alabdullatief, Aasem (2020) An approach for low energy mosque building design in hot arid climate: a case for Saudi Arabia. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

The number of mosque buildings is continuously increasing with the Muslim population, which is fast growing around the world. In particular, the demand of new mosque buildings is high in the urban areas, due to increasing urban population growth in many parts of Muslims countries, as a result of economic growth and political instabilities in some parts of the Muslims world. Mosques are becoming more overcrowded and as a result a number of researches have been conducted to address the issue of thermal comfort of mosques’ users and efficient cooling solutions. The motivator of this research is the lack of researches in sustainable mosques, where the current condition of mosque buildings is not satisfying.

Additionally, mosque buildings are unique because of their intermittent operation and variation in the number of users in terms of gender, age, weight...etc. which require a special heating and cooling strategies. On the other hand due to environmental pressure to suppress global warming, more energy efficient and sustainable buildings design is one of the current issues in building industries. Passive heating and cooling techniques integrated with natural ventilation are key solutions highlighted in many publications to solve the thermal comfort issues in all type of buildings but there is a demand for mosques in particular. This research aims firstly to explore sustainable techniques for mosque buildings under different climate zones. Then focusing on one specific climate and test a wide range of building envelope options and techniques. The climatic location of the mosque building combined with social culture impact the level of comfort that a mosque building may provide.

The research studies a number of mosques buildings in different parts of the world with different climate; and assesses the strategies employed to cool or heat these buildings depending on the climate and season. The effectiveness of the building features in relation to each climate are carefully analysed, and possibility of potential replication of these features elsewhere are examined. This thesis explores and evaluates a number of sustainable envelope options using Design Builder and Energy Plus computer simulations. The target is to provide feasible options to reduce energy consumption in mosque buildings in hot and arid climate.

The study concludes that there are potential features of building design which are adopted in many locations and these have a great potential to application elsewhere, and would aid sustainable mosque building in many parts of the world if taken into consideration when designing mosque buildings. The eventual objectives are establishing a guideline for architects and masques buildings designers to take into account when considering mosque building at any climate, in order to achieve sustainable mosque building.

The investigation included a number of envelop options for roof, walls and windows. In particular, the thesis examines 12 roof types, 8 wall arrangements and 9 windows options for a case of a mosque building in hot arid climate of Saudi Arabia. At this point, a combination of optimal roof, wall, and window designs are explored. The research concludes with a brief economic evaluation for all options, and results revealed the importance of shading the roof alongside wall insulation and use of reflective films on double-glazed windows. The combination of these options have potential to save up to 26% of the cooling loads for mosque building in hot arid climate. These findings could form a key part in the proposed Saudi Building Code for Mosque Building as they could be highly recommended for either new or current mosque buildings.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Omer, Siddig Boukhanouf, Rabah
Keywords:	Climates, design, sustainable techniques, thermal performance, mosque buildings.
Subjects:	T Technology > TH Building construction > TH 845 Architectural engineering
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering > Built Environment
Item ID:	60672
Depositing User:	Alabdullatief, Aasem
Date Deposited:	10 Sep 2020 08:59
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2022 04:30
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/60672

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