JEDDAH PLANETARIUM CENTER

Abstract

Science center is a landmark building where visitors will be exposed to scientific knowledge that helps people develop new skills, solve practical problems and make informed decisions both individually and collectively. This work presents the development of the Jeddah Planetarium Center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. For this work, three case studies related to planetarium centers were analysed. Based on the case study analysis, for the proposed planetarium center, the estimated gross area is 11785 m2 and the net area is 7905 m2. The center is comprised of several collective zones such as planetarium, show section, administration and service. In addition, three sites have been proposed for the development of the planetary centre. Therefore, a site evaluation analysis was carried out in order to select the most appropriate site. In addition, weighting factors (WF) were used for the site assessment analysis. Based on the results of the site evaluation analysis, site 1 was selected as the proposed development site as it attained the highest score of 62. The Jeddah Planetarium Center was designed with modern and unique structure. This center is expected to benefit the Saudi Arabian community and enhance its involvement in science and research in astronomy.