Equipment and Laboratories Department

Equipment and Laboratories Department

They are used for practicing all the necessary activities and training to meet all the requirements of the academic program in terms of library, exhibit, laboratories and workshops- in addition to study and drawing halls. Further, selected specialized professors are in charge of teaching. The following items look into these capabilities.

First: Spaces in the Department:

The Department provides eight drawing halls hosting for most of the activities of the architectural designs Department syllabi and its additional courses. The halls accommodate for over 320 students. And, given the huge pull for joining the Department, these halls work at two periods daily for meeting the educational process needs and making the most of these spaces.   

In a similar fashion, the Department has a 100-student capacity study hall, and it is designated for teaching the requirements of the Department, College and University regarding the theoretical courses.

The spaces of the Department are also equipped and designated for laboratories.

Second: Department Technological Capabilities:

The Islamic Architecture Department includes a big number of laboratories instrumental to teaching and training the students in all the specialties necessary for perfecting the educational process, related to the syllabi. These spaces are:

1. Sources and Information Unit:

The Department includes a unit designated for academic staff members and postgraduate studies students, and it is also used by the University studies Department students. It comprises a number of specialized courses, academic staff members’ researches and all the researches and studies conducted by the students- as well as some books dedicated to this unit.

1. Visual Aids and Educational Process Support Unit:

The Unit houses a number of computers, laptops and display devices with all familiar media combined: videos, computers, plastic slide shows, photographic slides and book-based presentation. It also includes a number of colored photocopying machines and 3D colored image scanners.

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Exhibit:                        

The Department designated space as a standing exhibit for the students’ projects and activities. It is updated each semester to benefit from it in guiding and raising awareness among students. And, it is also meant for receiving visitors and secondary school students for providing a window to the Department and its outputs.  

1. Vocational Workshops

There is no doubt that developing local sources, building styles and building-related professions is part and parcel of the local building activities. That’s to say, the vocational content of any of the building environment fields cannot be approached away from the areas related to the building industry.  Therefore, the Department set up a workshop for the students applying some of these crafts in practice.

Carpentry Workshop

The student learns how to tackle wood as an important material in building, especially, that in the past wood was used in many aspects such as the building structure, dormers, doors, windows and furniture. Also, the interior design draws on wood for building the appropriate furniture and making adequate spaces.

Building Workshop

Among the vocational workshops is the building workshop in which the student learns various building styles. They also get to know how to lay bricks and blocks used for erecting inner and outside walls- in addition to diverse thermal insulation means applied in the building process.

Metal Workshop

Metal workshop helps develop the student’s craftsmanship skills. They learn how to use aluminum and iron in forming building elements appropriate to the inner environment such as doors and windows. There is also a ceramic laboratory meant for getting the students acquainted with ways of forming ceramic as an important material in finishing process.

Building Science Laboratory  

The technical aspect of teaching needs supporting through laboratories. Therefore, the Department created a set of laboratories serving the experiments related to the various technical aspects. Inside laboratories, the students see themselves the material characteristics and real reactions. These laboratories include:

• Environment Laboratory:

The laboratory comprises several devices and equipment related to studying the thermal behavior and moisture within and outside buildings. And, given the significance of environment-based researches for their direct connection to the convenience of humans in the places where they live, the laboratory was equipped with many devices meant for the following:

• Measuring the temperature and moisture steadily for long periods during day, month and year.
• Measuring the solar radiation strength and the sun beam falling degrees on different areas of the Earth.
•   Modeling the celestial sphere for letting the student know about the sunbeam fall and shade and shadow forming processes.
• Measuring the speed of air and its direction, and its relation to the thermal behavior.
• Measuring the speed of air and its behavior among buildings in the architectural environment by the wind tunnel; and knowing about the wind pressure process on all the building parts, and this could pose risk to the building structure.
• Measuring   the thermal conduction degree for all the building materials along with modeling devices and simulating thermal transition in all environmental conditions.
• Measuring the thermal flux within and outside buildings by the systems used for the building thermal analyzing.

• Light Laboratory:

The light laboratory houses many devices enabling the student to know about the phenomenon of light and its traits and behavior in all environmental conditions. It also provides a window to the concept of lighting and luminance, and how to use the lighting element in designing for improving spacing within and outside the building. It is to:   

• Measuring the intensity of lighting within and outside buildings.
• Familiarizing the student with the traits of natural and industrial lighting in all different environments.
• Knowing about developing of the local lighting environment standards such as developing of the natural lighting laboratories standards.
•  Getting acquainted with the type and amount of lighting necessary for all different spaces according to the nature of usage. 

Sound Laboratory:

The sound laboratory is meant for getting the student to know about the physical traits of sound in all environmental conditions. Given the importance of studying sound within buildings, especially within the spaces where meetings, conferences and lectures are held, the laboratory is to:   

• Teach the student how to measure sound at different distances from the source.
• Know about the physical sound behavior in all environments.
• Study the phenomenon of sound reflection and absorption, and familiarize with the traits of the materials absorbing and reflecting sound.
• Train the student for creating a sound map for all spaces throughout the day.
• Simulate the issue of noise in the environment near the airports, factories and railways, and find solutions for them.
• Get acquainted with the issues of shaking within the building, and its impact on the structure; and solve them.

Buildings Laboratory

There is no doubt that the building theoretical courses the student studies are not adequate to make the student well-versed in all the architectural concepts they study. As such, the laboratory works on that. It also helps the student closely know about the architectural issues and the transition of power within the structure. It is to:

• Familiarize with the way power transiting within all the structures.
• Calculate the amount of power and its direction over diverse stretches.
•   Get the student to know about the concept of normal and extended beams, one-way tile, two-ways tiles and expansion joints.
• Familiarize the student with the types of steel structures such as trusses and space trusses, and ways of calculating power on them.
• Get the student acquainted with the way of measuring the amount of pressure, moment distribution and tensile on different parts of the structure. 

Photography Laboratory

The photography laboratory provides diverse equipment in terms of photographic and digital cameras with different lens size-in addition to darkroom.   It gives the academic staff members and the College students the chance to draw on this equipment in shooting and producing the photographs and slides, which play a key role in the life of architect. Also, these photographs provide a window to any architectural project in all its designing phases, and the environment in which they have been implemented.

Maquette  Workshop

To put the architectural project into perspective, it is to be shown in the form of maquette bearing the suggested designing before it is implemented on real ground. As such, the workshop helps the Department in making the maquettes of the projects presented from it and its students as it houses cutting and forming tools for completing the maquettes necessary for displaying all projects.

Computer Laboratory

The computer laboratory provides an opportunity for the students to learn diverse skills and arts with the aim of drawing on this technology in preparing various architectural projects and urban planning. This is through learning the computer-based architectural drawing programs, and architectural presentation methods using AutoCad, 3D, PhotoShop among others.