Aula Magna
Aula Magna.
A 100-seat multifunctional hall created from the former campus gymnasium for academic, musical and institutional activities.
compact academic hall
Aula Magna institutional profile
Former campus gymnasium reconverted into a compact academic auditorium and officially returned to institutional life in 2021.
Teaching, institutional meetings, chamber activity and compact public events.
Institutional identity
A second performance and representation space for the Conservatory.
The Aula Magna is an intermediate space between the traditional teaching room and the larger Auditorium Vincenzo Vitale. It supports collective lessons, masterclasses, degree sessions, seminars, small concerts and institutional meetings with a scale that is lighter, more agile and more immediately academic.
Acoustic treatment
Designed to correct the limits of a sports hall.
The conversion introduced dedicated acoustic surfaces to avoid excessive reflection, sound distortion and the typical imbalance of a former gymnasium adapted for music.
- Reflective surfaces
- Diffusing surfaces
- Reverberation correction
- Room resonance control
- Time-delay management
- Reinforced floor with double fibreglass grid
Use types
Academic, artistic and institutional functions.
- Collective lessons
- Masterclasses
- Graduation sessions
- Conferences
- Seminars
- Small concerts
- Artistic reviews
- Instrumental rehearsals
- Institutional meetings
Chronology
From campus gymnasium to Aula Magna.
The hall tells a clear institutional transition: from a vertical school-campus model, including the attached lower secondary music school, toward a fully AFAM, performative and university-like model.
The original gymnasium belonged to the Via Circumvallazione campus created after the Irpinia earthquake, within a broader educational setting connected to the Conservatory.
After the attached lower secondary music school gradually ceased its function, the younger daily school community disappeared and the gym lost its original purpose.
The Conservatory included an official project for the restructuring and conversion of the gymnasium in regional programming documents.
Works began under the presidency of Luca Cipriano, with delays caused by the pandemic lockdown.
The Aula Magna was officially inaugurated in the presence of the Prefect of Avellino, Paola Spena.
The hall is used as a compact academic, musical and institutional venue between ordinary classrooms and the larger Auditorium Vincenzo Vitale.
Architectural role
A compact hall inside the campus system.
The project completely remodelled the old gym, introduced an auditorium configuration, created a stage for rehearsals and small concerts, and renewed internal surfaces for acoustic control.
Strategic value
Recovering existing heritage without new construction.
The conversion is a practical example of adaptive reuse: an existing campus space receives a new purpose aligned with the Conservatory identity, increasing cultural capacity while preserving the building stock.
Institutional description
A multifunctional hall for contemporary music education.
The Aula Magna of Conservatorio Domenico Cimarosa is a multifunctional space dedicated to the teaching, artistic and institutional life of the Conservatory. Created through the conversion of the historic campus gymnasium, it is a recovery and enhancement project that provides a modern 100-seat hall with specific acoustic and scenic solutions for contemporary higher music education.
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