Comparing user's feelings in courtyard and durqa'a: A case study of Mamluk madrassa in Cairo

This work discusses the influence of enclosure in courtyard and durqa'a (covered courtyard) of Mamluk madrassa on users' feelings and satisfaction, assuming that the degree of enclosure was among the reasons that led to cover the courtyard by shukhsheikha (wooden lantern), turning it to a durqa'a. For this purpose, the impressions of 50 participants within six virtual spaces were collected. These spaces are: two represent the courtyard (C), two represent the durqa'a (CD), and two represent a modified (hypothetical) opened durqa'a (OD). The degree of participants' satisfaction and feelings within each space were evaluated subjectively (using a group of words), and objectively using a ten-point Likert scale. Results showed that the degree of participants' satisfaction in these spaces is not the same, where the courtyard got the highest degree of satisfaction, followed by the closed durqa'a and finally the opened one. Results also indicated that gender has no significant effect except that the males were slightly more satisfied than females.(c) 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study discusses the influence of enclosure and durqa'a on users' feelings and satisfaction, and finds that the degree of enclosure in the courtyard is related to satisfaction. Through experiments in virtual spaces, it is concluded that the courtyard has higher satisfaction compared to the closed durqa'a and open durqa'a.