Architectural acoustic design in liturgical churches. A case of selected Catholic churches in Kampala

Abstract

In the first semester of fifth year during the program of Bachelor of Architecture, each final year student is required to carry out research on a topic selected by themselves; under the guidance and supervision of a department supervisor of their choice. On completion of the research, they are required to compile and submit a dissertation report to the undergraduate school in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Architecture of Makerere University. For my dissertation, I carried out research on a topic titled ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTIC DESIGN IN LITURGICAL CHURCHES. A CASE OF SELECTED CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN KAMPALA, and studied two catholic churches in Kampala; that is; Saint Augustine Chapel, Makerere and Saint Denis Martyrs’ shrine, Munyonyo. This report serves the purpose of providing a detailed background to the research topic, describing the findings of my research; not leaving out the methods I used to arrive at the findings. Information was acquired mainly through literature review and field work which entailed physical study of churches to assess their acoustical status; as well as interaction with relevant persons through interviews and questionnaires. Whereas chapter one briefly talks about the background and Origin of Architectural acoustics in Churches, and why it is an issue of concern in our country Uganda; Chapter two entails the literature review. Chapter three describe the methodology used for data collection. In chapter four is presented the data collected from the field and its analysis. Chapter five on the other hand discusses the data presented in chapter four, against the findings from literature review. Chapter six presents conclusions and recommendations for the churches studied, based on the research findings. I found the dissertation exercise very helpful towards my acquisition of knowledge about the topic of Architectural acoustics and growth in my career.