Proceedings of the 2012 Winter Simulation Conference C. Laroque, J. Himmelspach, R. Pasupathy, O. Rose, and A.M. Uhrmacher, eds A SIMULATION STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF MOSQUE DESIGN ON EGRESS TIMES Khaled Nassar Ahmed Bayyoumi The American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo Dept. of Construction and Architecture Engineering Dept. of Construction and Architecture Engineering New Cairo, EGYPT New Cairo, EGYPT ABSTRACT The Mosque prayer hall is perhaps the only architectural space designed for a large number of floor- seated occupants. A critical issue in the design of mosques is determining the number and configuration of exit locations. This paper describes a discrete-event simulation model developed to assess the effect of mosque prayer hall configuration on the egress times of the occupants. The simulation model takes into consideration the behavioral aspects of the mosque occupants such as shoe placement and pickup, after prayer lingering, late egress of front rows, after prayers, and congregations inside and outside the mosque. Most of the various exit configurations possible in mosque design are modeled and assessed for total egress time as well as flow rates. It is shown that one-sided exit location out performs all other configura- tions. The study presents the first such analysis of mosque egress and the results should of great interest to architects and researchers alike. 1 INTRODUCTION From an architectural point of view, mosques are unique facilities in that they are the only buildings where the entire space is occupied by floor-seated individuals. The occupant capacity of the mosque pray- er halls is probably the highest of all building spaces. Yet international building codes (such as the Inter- national Building Code IBC) fail to specify appropriate occupant load factors for mosque prayer hall spaces. More importantly the emergency egress requirements for mosque spaces offer unique challenges especially when specifying egress number, width, configurations and type. Most if not all building codes lack specific requirements on emergency egress for mosques. The problem is exacerbated when consider- ing mosque prayer hall designs in confined areas of larger facilities such as malls and airports, where limitations exist on the location and design of the means of egress, unlike open mosques. In addition to the emergency egress and life safety concerns, there is a very limited work done on the level of service expected in mosque facilities in general and especially at exit corridors or egress access. This often results in efficient occupant flows in and out of the mosques and places incalculable risks on the lives of the wor- shippers in case of disasters. Several unique issues affect emergency egress requirements for mosques during regular and Friday prayers alike where various occupant loads are expected. For example when considering design standards and emergency egress requirements for mosques, the intermittent behavior of the occupants after the prayers (due to social exchanges) should be accounted for as well as other functional reasons such as the need to put on shoes immediately after exiting the prayer hall, which temporarily blocks the exits. There- fore, spatial and temporal behavior of the occupants therefore needs to be considered when developing design standards for mosques. In addition, several questions regarding mosque designs remain open; are 978-1-4673-4780-8/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 1230 978-1-4673-4782-2/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE