Student-to-student: UW’s best lecture halls and classrooms

With more than 380 buildings on UW–Madison’s campus, there are a lot of different classrooms and lecture halls.

There are hundred-person lecture halls, small classrooms for more intimate discussions, rooms that have been on campus for more than 100 years, and some that have only been around for a few. But which ones are the best?

Here’s a list of some of the greatest classrooms — the biggest, newest, most comfortable and more — at least in our opinion.

Largest lecture hall: Room 125, Agricultural Hall

At the top of Henry Mall lies Agricultural Hall, home of the largest lecture hall on campus. With three large sections on the ground floor and a full balcony, the room is spacious, to say the least. It has a grand total of 588 seats, making it the biggest lecture hall on UW’s campus.

Oldest lecture hall: Room 180, Science Hall

The oldest lecture hall on campus that is still currently in use is Science Hall’s Room 180, which has 199 seats. The original building burned down in 1884, but the new Science Hall finished construction in 1887.

North Hall, which was built in 1851, is the oldest building on campus, but it currently houses the Political Science Department and is not used for teaching classes. Bascom Hall, which also has a large lecture hall, was opened in 1859. But the South Wing, which has the building’s lecture hall, wasn’t added until 1899. This makes Science Hall the home of campus’ oldest lecture hall.

While there have undoubtedly been some updates to Science Hall throughout the years, if you have a class there, you’ll be learning right where former Badgers sat more than 130 years ago.

Newest lecture hall: Auditorium, Signe Skott Cooper Hall School of Nursing

Signe Skott Cooper Hall officially opened in August 2014, making it the newest building on campus — meaning is has the newest classrooms and lecture halls. Its auditorium, located on the first floor, is used for classes and other events.

In addition to the auditorium, the school of Nursing also has multiple active learning classrooms that integrate technology in a classroom setting.

Best view: Room 5193, Helen C. White

On the fifth floor of Helen C. White are classrooms with some of the best views on campus. Seminar room 5193 is a corner classroom with two wall-to-wall windows overlooking the lake. You can see from the west shore to the north shore to the east shore of Lake Mendota, making this classroom a great place to see windsurfers, sailboats, seagulls and sunsets. Be sure to still pay attention in class, though.

Most comfortable seats: Room 2510 Grainger

From wooden seats to hard plastic to cushioned, there are a variety of chairs in classroom across campus. Some of them aren’t the greatest to sit in for a two-hour power lecture, but others genuinely are really comfortable.

In terms of seating, the Business school students tend to have it pretty good. Many of the chairs have cushions and a fair amount are even swivel chairs. Here’s just one example. The swivel chairs in room 2510 have soft cushions and full backs that will leave you comfortable and relaxed, but still focused.

Disagree? Email what you think the best lecture halls and classrooms are to theweekly@uc.wisc.edu