Audial Comfort Evaluation of the Urban Park Libraries, Case Study: Bima Microlibrary in Bandung, Indonesia

Abstract

Public libraries have a function as a place of activity for its visitors. Activities performed at this facility require excellent comfort, including spatial comfort, visual comfort, thermal comfort, and most importantly audial comfort. Currently, micro libraries are starting to appear as public libraries in urban parks, among other things, to increase public interest in reading and provide educational space for underprivileged communities. The various activities that occur around and in the urban park produce noise which of course disturbs the micro library in it. This research focuses on the Bima Microlibrary located in Taman Bima, as a prototype micro library designed by SHAU Architecture and Urbanism. This research uses a descriptive quantitative method by measuring the noise level that occurs in the object of study. Through this research, it is known that the noise level that occurs in the object of study reaches a very high and uncomfortable level. Therefore, this research also recommends engineering that can be done for the study object to attain audial comfort. It is hoped that the results of this study can encourage designers to pay more attention to audial comfort for educational facilities, especially those built in public areas, such as micro libraries.