Factors contributing in the design of environmentally sustainable mosques

Abstract

Built environment is one of the most energy intensive sectors in today's world and has a huge environmental impact. In order to reduce its ecological footprint, buildings need to be environmentally sustainable. Similar to other buildings, most modern mosques are made out of regional context and thus are environmentally unsustainable. Unfortunately, there is a huge lack of research or case studies on how sustainable mosques should be designed. Some studies highlight that mosques, in general, waste a huge amount of energy due to energy inefficient design and hence the energy saving potential would be immense. Keeping that fact into consideration, this paper identifies the factors that influence mosque sustainability with the aim to provide a guideline in order to build more environmentally sustainable mosques. Through comparing established passive designing techniques with characteristics of mosques and available research, this paper shortlists four major design factors – i) spatial layout and volume, ii) fixed orientation of prayer hall, iii) occupancy pattern and iv) user activity level and clothing type. By keeping these four criteria in consideration during the design phases, mosques can be made environmentally sustainable through optimized energy performance and reduced energy wastage during the occupancy stage. Furthermore, some recommendations are provided for each design stage that may prove to be helpful for the sustainable design of mosques. These four design factors may serve as a basis for further studies in order to establish a proper and thoroughly researched climate and region-specific guideline for energy efficient and sustainable mosque designing.