A
lecture hall (or
lecture theatre) is a large room used for
instruction, typically at a
college or
university. Unlike a traditional
classroom with a capacity normally between one and fifty, the capacity of lecture halls is typically measured in the hundreds. Lecture halls almost always have a pitched
floor, so that those in the rear are sat higher than those at the front, allowing them to see the lecturer. The importance of lecture halls is so significant that some schools of architecture have offered courses exclusively centered on their design. The noted
Boston architect
Earl Flansburgh wrote numerous articles focusing on achieving efficacious lecture hall design.