Acous ical Beha io O Chu ches: Mudeja -Go hic Chu ches
Juan J. Send a*, T. Zama e lo and J. Na a o*
*Depa men o A chi ec u al Cons mc ion ‘Depa men o Applied Physics. Se ille Uni e si y. A enida Reina
Me cedes, 2, IiOiZ-Se illa (Spain)
Abs ac : Ch is ian chu ches ha e adi ionally been conside ed o ha e e y good acous ical beha io . This un ounded belie has led o
impo an en-on in chu ch ehabili a ion wo ks, especially when he chu ch is o be used subsequen ly as an audi o ium o hea e ; his
is he case o many chu ches in Spain. Ou esea ch g oup has wo ked in acous ical analysis o mo e han en yea s. We ha e
pa icipa ed in many cases o chu ch ehabili a ion and ha e had he opp&uni y o achie e su p isingly good acws ical beha io in
se e al. We deal wi h a e y common ype in sou he n Spain: Go hic-Mudeja chu ches, which ha e a small olume, a iple-na e
layou , and wooden ceilings.
INTRODUCTION
The acous ical beha io o Roman Ca holic chu ches has been he objec o di@e en s udies by se e al au ho s,
including he au ho s o his pape (1,2). In eali y, he special olumeaic and o mal cha ac e is ics o hese places o
wo ship lend hem a pa icula acous ical beha io which, wi h ay excep ions, can be a ed as inadeqna e. The
Audalusian Mudeja Go hic chu ches a e among hese excep ions.
When Ch is ians eco e ed sou he n Spain om he A abs in he hi ken h cen u y, hey buil chu ches o e he
mosques o symbolic easons: hey wan ed o ep esen he new powe . To do so, hey b ough mas e s om he no h
who knew he mlcs o Go hic a chi ec u e. Howe e , a la ge nun& o chu ches had o be buil in a sho ime, and he
a ailable wo ke s we e mainly Mudeja s (subjuga ed Moo s), who we e amilia wi h o he cons uc i e echniques, such
as wooden oo s and b ick walLs. This ga e ise. o he Mudeja -Go hic s yie, wi h chu ches whose mos ep esen a i e
poin s (p esby e y and po als) a e buil o s one, ollowing he Go hic s yle, while he body o he chu ch has b ick walls
and h ee na es wi h a co e ed ceiling ( igu e 1).
This is he s yle o mos o he pa ish chu ches in Se ille (Spain), and i is he s yle we will deal wi h in his s udy. We
ha e chosen en chu ches, a sampling which we conside su icien Jy ep esen a i e.
ACOUSTICAL BEHAVIOR
We ca ied ou a e y de ailed acous ical analysis on each building, including on-si e es s o de emune he ohowingz
a) Re e be a ion ime a di e en equencies on he oc a e band
b) Dis ibu ion o sound p essu e le els in a s a iona y s a e
c) RASTl index a sc c al poin s, wi h and wi hou elec oacous ical suppo
d) NR indexes o e ah a e backg ound noise.
The sound dis ibu ion s udy allowed us o deduce a model simila o Bamm’s model (3) o desc ibe he e e be a ed
ield, which we published ecen ly (4). F om he analysis o he e e be a ion imes a di k en equencies in he en
chu ches ( igu e 1), we can conch& ha hei acous ical condi ions a e easonably good, e en when he e is no audience.
These condi ions a e close o op imum o music a medium and high kquencies, ahhough he alues a c a he low o
bass because o he p esence o a la ge amoun o bass-abso bing ma e &J (wood). When he chu ch is Gll, e e be a ion
imes a e nea op imum o speech.
only h ee o he en chu ches s udied di e mm he abo e e alua ion: he S . Ma ina, S . Julian, and S . Ma k
Chu ches. All h ee ha e ecen ly unde gone eno a ion and es o a ion wo k and ha e los much o hei o namen a ion.
Also, he S . Ma ina and S . Julian chu ches a e cha ac e ized by hei la ge size in ela ion wi h he o he chu ches
2127
125 250 500 1000
F equency (Hz)
2ooll
FIGURE I. Inside o he M&ja -Go hic S Isido e chu ch and e e be a ion imes measu ed in lhe en chu ches
s udied. S . Ma k’s chu ch is smalle , bu i s main na e is p esen ly co e ed wi h ce amic pieces because he o iginal
wood was damaged hy e mi es. Finally, i is impo an o men ion ha none o hese h ee chu ches ha e side chapels.
The RASTI index measu emen s ga e a e age alues o be ween 0.35 and 0.48 wi hou elec zoacous ical suppo ,
which would classi y hei in elligibili y as “poo : al hough i mus he no ed ha he es s we e un when he chu ches
had no audience. The exis ence o a public-add ess sys em aised he a e age RASTT alues o be ween 0.45 and 0.57.
The backg ound noise le els in he chu ches p oduce NX indexes o be ween 33 and 44 due o a lic noise hecause all
o hem, excep one, a e loca ed in he his o ic cen e o he ci y, nea na ow, hea ily- a eled s ee s. The p esence o a
hea y wooden inne doo a he main en ance in he S . Gil and S . Vicen Chu ches is he p incipal cause o he lowe
alues shown o his index.
REFERENCES
I . Sendm, J.J. and Na a o, J., La E olucidn de Las Condiciones Ac is icas en las Iglesias, & illa: Ins i u o Uni e si a io de Ciencias
de la Cons ucci6n, 1997.
2 . Sendm, J. J., Zama eiIo, T., Na a o, J. and Algaba, J., El P oblema ok Ias Condiciones Ack icas en las Iglesias: P incipios I
p opueS us pa a la Rehabiii acidn, & illa: Ins& o Uni e si axio de Ciencias de la Cons ucci6n, 1997.
3. Ekmm, M. and Lee, L. J., Jou nal o he Acous ical Socie y o Ame ica 84 (2), 618-628 (1988).
4. Send a, J.J., Zama eilo T. and Na a o, J. (B ebbia, C., Kenny, J. and Ciskowski R. D., ed.), Compu a ional Acous ics and i s
En i onmen al Applica ions II. Sou hampon: Compu a ional Mechanics Publica ions, 1997. pp. 139- 148.
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