A Design Study of Sonic Crystal Technology as An Iconic Noise Mitigation Barrier in the Environment of Santa Maria Fatima Church in Magelang

Abstract

Sacred buildings hold different significance for people based on their religious or spiritual beliefs. Many individuals use such buildings for personal or communal prayer, worship, and religious ceremonies. Silence is crucial in creating a peaceful environment that fosters introspection and spiritual connection. However, in recent years, the use of technology has become ubiquitous and has brought about concerns regarding noise pollution, especially from traffic. This has led to the development of new technologies, such as sonic crystals, proposed for use as acoustic barriers to mitigate this problem. Sonic crystals are structures that can manipulate sound waves, like how regular crystals manipulate light waves. They have unique acoustic properties that make them useful in various applications, such as noise reduction and filtering. However, sonic crystals require sufficient space for installation, and conventionally, the arrangement of sonic crystals are unappealing. This is a challenge for architects to incorporate aesthetically pleasing sonic crystals into the eco-design of sacred buildings without compromising on their values while providing a noise-free environment. Therefore, this paper aims to comprehensively examine the efficacy of Sonic Crystals as a noise attenuation method around sacred buildings, focusing on barrier designs that can also represent church values by using literature review, analysis, and simulation.