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Abstract Having studied the environmental aspects and their relationship to architecture, it seems that the ancient Egyptian temples were complying with the environment in a friendly way, much better than many of the modern buildings which are seen today. It is clear that the ancient Egyptians were also exploiting all the available human abilities. Thus, they were able to treat all the environmental issues in a way that was compatible with the general interior and exterior design. As for lighting, high windows and top-lighting were widely used in temples since they admit more daylight from the sky. The roof openings were placed in different directions to catch the daylight at different times of the day. When cutting the roof openings, the ancient engineers were cutting them at different angles to direct the sunlight to a certain spot in the room in a way that resembles spotlighting, and this was clearly seen in the temples of Edfu and Dendera. Also, top-lighting distributes illumination more uniformly to all the walls and it allows the penetration of light into the interior of the temple. Placing the top of windows as near the ceiling as possible allows the light to reflect off the ceiling for optimum penetration and indirect lighting effects. The design of the Egyptian temple was symbolizing a trumpet to provide the maximum acoustical values. The walls, roof and floor of the temple were built of stone, which is very helpful in reflecting most of the sound energy. Reverberation and diffusion were both witnessed in temple design. This design was very effective in distributing a uniform sound pressure level in the different halls and corners of the temple. It is believed that the physiological and psychological effects of noise on human beings had been carefully investigated by the architects and the priests in ancient Egypt. Usually, there was an outer corridor and a high stone wall that was embracing a great part of the temple house. Also, there was at least one enclosure wall, built of mud brick, which surrounded the temple complex. These precautions helped a lot in creating a kind of noise control and it participated in eliminating any kind of unwanted sounds inside the temple proper. As for the materials used for construction and for manufacturing the pigments used for painting, it was found that most of the materials used were locally found. There were more than 200 quarries for the different kinds of stone that the ancient engineers used. Minerals were also found in abundance in different parts of Egypt. These minerals were used either naturally or by creating a compound to be used for making pigments. The binding media were also naturally occurring, and most of them were found to be animal glues and plant gums. from the abovementioned points, it seems that the use of the ancient Egyptian methods in the environmental treatments in the temples could be plausible in the study of modern buildings. Worldwide, it is absolutely accepted today that the environmental architecture is economically worthwhile as well. On the other hand, another method should be adopted for lighting the Egyptian temples today. A simulation of natural daylighting can be used, allowing a kind of top lighting without being seen from inside the temple. Also, all the temples of Egypt, as well as the tombs of course,need more protection against human and environmental dangers. It is important to use Plexiglas for protecting the scenes. Plexiglas is known to be 17 times stronger than glass and half its weight. |