Explaining and evaluating the quality of“light” in religious environments and its effect on spirituality

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the quality of the interior architecture of the religious spaces regarding inducing the sense of spirituality with an emphasis on light. Thus, the authors introduced the best option by simulating the light intensity of the interior environment of the Nasir Al-Mulk Mosque, Shiraz, in software and developing a visual standard questionnaire with a statistical population including the experts. This research was a field, and survey study and computational software were used to simulate the light intensity of the interior environment of the mosque in the first part. Then, the researcher-made visual questionnaire was developed. Also, this questionnaire was sent to the experts online due to the current situations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The statistical population was selected using the purposive sampling method from the universities of Iran, Malaysia, India, and Turkey, whose expertise was architecture, environmental psychology, and sacred arts.

Key words： Islamic architecture; Spirituality; Tranquility; Religious spaces; Environmental psychology; Light