Design of lighting system for sacred places with the approach of improving technical and economic conditions

In Islamic countries, many sacred places reflect the history, culture, and tradition of the nations. One of the main issues that can improve the architecture of these places is the proper lighting system. In this research, two alternative lighting designs for the main courtyard of the JAMKARAN mosque are discussed. These schemes are presented based on related international experiences and standards of lighting sys- tems and to minimize energy consumption and eliminate disadvantages in the current lighting system. At first, based on on-site visits and data collection, the general structure of JAMKARAN mosque including dimensions, height, architectural structure, and current lighting system of the mosque including the number, location, and power consumption of projectors and other lighting equipment was modeled and simulated in DIALux Evo software. Afterward, using the results obtained from software simulation and comparison of software output data with lighting standards and international experiences, technical and operational shortcomings of the current design were identified. In the end, two alternative lighting designs based on international standards and user experiences related to lighting systems for sacred places are presented. The simulation results show that the proposed designs not only meet the lighting standards and technical indicators but minimized the number of lights, amount of energy consumption, and costs. In terms of economic, the cost of our proposed lighting designs is equal to 60 percent of the cost of the current JAMKARAN mosque’s lighting system. And in terms of technical indicators, such as minimum light intensity, glare, and uniform light distribution, the proposed designs are superior. This research opens windows for researchers to develop a lighting system design in sacred places with an approach to improving technical and economic conditions.

Keywords: Sacred places JAMKARAN mosque Lighting system design DIALux Evo software Economic and technical evaluation