Acoustical evaluation of conference halls: Case of İzmir DEU Faculty of Architecture

The aim of this thesis is to analyse features of the conference halls, which are frequently included in the program of educational buildings, and by creating new suggestions for increasing the acoustic quality in the Izmir Dokuz Eylül Faculty of Architecture Conference Hall. To serve this aim, conference rooms both in Turkey and international arena with similar features were examined in terms of design features and acoustic building materials. As a result of the evaluations, the parameters affecting the acoustic comfort such as architectural design of the building, building materials, stage design, audience seating and furniture were identified. In addition, these parameters have to be specified according to the ambient conditions in the architectural design process of the conference halls. Within the scope of this research, acoustic measurements and acoustic simulation method were applied. Field measurements were carried out in accordance with ISO 3382 standard by using B&K 12 surface sound source, microphone, preamplifier and DIRAC software. Measurement was performed by recording acoustic reaction at five different receptors with a source whose predetermined position was located on the stage. As a result of the field measurements, it was determined that the acoustic parameters of the DEU Faculty of Architecture conference hall were not within the optimum ranges defined in the literature. It was decided to create suggestions to the hall to improve the acoustic parameters. During the development of the suggestions, the 3d model of the hall was evaluated using the Odeon room acoustics software. Different suggestions were presented to the hall with new materials and design approaches through simulation. The results of these suggestions were transferred and evaluated comparatively, and the data that can be used in the construction process as well as the literature contribution was obtained.