The intensity of prayer room’s natural lighting

A mosque as a place of worship for Muslims, not only functions as a place of prayer but also functions for other worship activities such as reading the Quran, religious lectures, and celebrating Islamic holidays. Each activity needs to be supported by good lighting so that each activity can run optimally. This study will discuss the aspect of light as supporting the function of the mosque, with a focus on the natural lighting of the mosque prayer room. The case study was conducted at the Taqwa Nandjar Mosque located in Tangerang Selatan, Banten, Indonesia. This study uses a quantitative method, where the data collected is the lighting intensity (lux) in the prayer room area of the Taqwa Nandjar Mosque. The result is the natural lighting at Taqwa Nandjar Mosque has not met the minimum required lighting standard for the mosque and artificial lighting is needed to increase the light intensity in the Taqwa Nandjar mosque room to meet the minimum lighting standards.


Introduction
Comfort is necessary when someone performs worship. There are several aspects related to the convenience that need to be fulfilled. One of the comfort aspects when worshiping is visual comfort. Visual comfort comes from lighting that can support building user activities properly. Also, good visual comfort at a place of worship can bring a feeling of calm and closeness to the creator when someone is performing worship [1]. This is because a place of worship is considered to have a different quality of space from the surrounding buildings, which can support the sacredness of rituals carried out inside or outside the place of worship [2].
Mosques as places of worship for Muslims also need to pay attention to visual comfort aspects in their lighting design. For mosque lighting itself, we can divide it into two, namely sacred lighting and functional lighting. From previous research, it is known that light can influence the formation of visual perceptions of Allah's presence in prayer [3]. This is known as sacred lighting. On the other hand, there is also research that discusses lighting from a functional side. Functional lighting is lighting to support the function of a mosque as a place of worship such as prayer, reading the Qur'an, and other worship [4].
Daylight is one of the key elements for mosque lighting. Without proper daylighting, a mosque's space will not function properly [5]. This study will discuss the aspect of light as supporting the function of the mosque, with a focus on the natural lighting of the mosque prayer room. This is to see the potential use of natural lighting to meet the functional needs of mosque users such as praying and reading the Al-Qur'an. The case study was conducted at the Taqwa Nandjar Mosque located in Tangerang Selatan, Banten, Indonesia. The Taqwa Nandjar Mosque was chosen because apart from being used as a place 2 of prayer, this mosque is also used for other worship activities such as reading the Al-Qur'an, religious lectures, Islamic holidays, and others.

Research methodology
This study uses a quantitative method, where the data collected is the lighting intensity (lux) in the prayer room area of the Taqwa Nandjar Mosque. The data was collected by measuring the light intensity at ten points in the prayer room area of the Taqwa Nandjar Mosque. Measurements were made at 09.00 AM and 02.00 PM, using a lux meter.
The analysis was carried out by comparing the measurement results with visual comfort standards for the prayer room and classroom. Visual comfort standards for the prayer room and classroom were obtained from the results of the previous literature review, namely from the Indonesian National Standard SNI 03-657-2001 for lighting [6].
This study will focus on the relationship between visual comfort and the level/magnitude of lighting values so that other variables related to visual comfort in this study will be considered non-existent.

Building site analysis
Taqwa Nandjar Mosque is located at Jalan Cendrawasih Raya No. 64, Sawah Baru, Ciputat District, South Tangerang City, Banten, Indonesia. To the east of the mosque is bordered by a car park. To the north of the mosque is bordered by a motorbike parking area and a minaret. To the south of the mosque is bordered by gardens and the Tahfidz Islamic boarding school. To the west of the mosque is bordered by residential areas. There are public facilities such as toilets, ablution places, parking for motorbikes and cars, a management area, and a foyer area for mosque users who want to rest.
The main part of the mosque is the prayer room which is in the deepest position in the mosque area. Further information regarding the position and condition of the Taqwa Nandjar Mosque can be seen in the following figure 2:

Measurement of data analysis
In this study, researchers took measurements using a lux meter at several points in the mosque.

Conclusion
Judging from the lighting aspect for the function of the mosque as a place of prayer and a place to read the Qur'an, the natural lighting at Taqwa Nandjar Mosque has not met the minimum required lighting standard, which is 200 lux. This is based on the mosque lighting standards in the Indonesian National Standard SNI 03-6575-2001. Therefore, the role of artificial lighting is needed to increase the light intensity in the Taqwa Nandjar mosque room to meet the minimum lighting standards required. Also, further research can find out the need for artificial lighting intensity for mosque prayer rooms, especially for the Taqwa Nandjar prayer room. The intensity of natural lighting in the prayer room area of the mosque is also influenced by the presence of trees around the mosque where the trees reduce the intensity of sunlight that can be entering the prayer area. Therefore, regulating the distance between trees and buildings is one aspect that needs to be considered to obtain optimal natural lighting intensity.

Recommendation
Add artificial lighting to assist natural lighting during the day. Calculations regarding the amount of artificial lighting needed along with the details of the artificial lighting can be carried out in subsequent studies.