ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 811

visitors and the working personnel, however they should not be harmful to them and instead
avoid causing any hazards to people as well as the cultural heritage items.
Artifacts
Organic, inorganic and mixed materials are the three groups dividing the different artifacts from
each other, resulting different requirements for each, also based on its original content in terms
of conservation (Gennusa et al. 2005). These requirements include the microclimate as well as
the illuminance levels. These conditions also depend on the status of each object and the level
of attention they require once they have been found. Organic materials are very sensitive objects
that are affected by their surroundings in a much faster way. From the inorganic materials, metals
and coins are very challenging, as they rust and as a result, affected by humidity quickly. Pottery
and stones are more durable objects; their main problem is the creation of different layers of salt
as well as the cracks they have. The main damage caused to the object is during the time it was
found and when it was first removed from the archaeological site. The sudden changes of the
environment that it was kept for over thousands of years will cause rapid changes in temperature,
humidity and lighting levels. It will cause cracks and chemical reactions (Hindawi 2014).
Overall, stable and uniformed microclimate parameters are required in the museum environments
for preservation (Gennusa et al. 2005) and the different parameters along with the conditions of
Sharjah Museums were published in the earlier stage of this study by Askari and Altan (2014).
Visitors
Visitors are the true content of a museum (Bataille 1930). They visit the museums individually or in
groups. During their visit, they can affect the historical items or even be affected by them, if conditions were not to be controlled. Different studies have been conducted in different museums
all over the world in order to evaluate the satisfaction levels of the visitors toward those environments. Based on the evaluations made by these studies, the visitors’ satisfaction was related to
the exhibition environment, ambient environment and the size of the museum directly and indirectly (Jeong and Lee 2006). Same factors were considered in evaluating the visitors’ satisfaction
in Sharjah Museums with below points:
Exhibition Environments in the UAE Museums
• Indoor Environments and Technology Use
• Visual Locomotors and Signage Availability
• Circulation Complexity
Ambient Environment
• Density of the Visitors
• Noise Levels
Thermal Comfort
• Temperature
• Humidity
Size of the Museum
Overall, the results showed that the satisfaction levels among all visitors and some possibilities
in further enhancements. Moreover, the satisfaction level with regard to the different mentioned
parameters was higher compared to the other studies. This result might be related to the number
of survey participants as well as the season that the survey was conducted. As known, in the summer period, the visitors are much less around. Satisfaction level is an important factor and should
be considered. However, a crucial point to be studied is the impact of the perceived environment
on peoples’ health, and how it affects them over short and long periods of time.

A post occupancy evaluation of the uae museum indoor environments

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