Examination of religious buildings in terms of acoustic conditions via Sephardic Synagogues of İzmir Kemeraltı District

Nowadays, in addition to the conservation and restoration of historical buildings, acoustical environment, which is one of the basic elements of human perception of architectural spaces, takes place within the concept of architectural heritage. The acoustic documentation and analysis of cultural heritage in terms of acoustic has become a major issue in recent years. In this context, most of works aim to investigate the acoustic values of religious buildings (which are accepted as cultural heritage) and to suggest some improvements for problematic ones to protect the original characters. Most of studies support that the acoustical conditions of historical monuments should take place in the world cultural heritage. In this thesis, acoustical measurements and evaluation the conclusions of the synagogues, the worship spaces for Jewish people, are aimed. As the case studies, Shalom, Sinyora Giveret, Algaze and Bikur Holim Synagogues, which are located at Kemeraltı, İzmir, are chosen. This thesis consists of five main sections. In the first part, purpose, scope and methodology of study is described. In the second part, the acoustic requirements of mosques, churches and synagogues, as the worship areas of monotheistic religions, are explained. In the third section, the history of Jewish people, synagogues and the historical process of synagogues are discussed. In the fourth chapter, the definition of working areas, demonstration of acoustical measurements, the graphics and tables about the measurement results and evaluations are given. In the last section, some results about synagogues are obtained from measurement results, graphics and numerical data.