The Aula Máxima de Ciencias was commissioned in 1964. It was designed by the architect Mario Pilonieta González and the builder was the engineer José Rafael Olalla. Although it was originally called the Physics Auditorium and was designed with cinema projection in mind, according to architect Pilonieta, from that moment on it became the university’s favourite stage due to its outstanding characteristics as an auditorium.
This building was an emblematic place not only for master classes, lectures, entrance exams and mid-term exams (from which perhaps it derived its nickname of “El matadero”, as it was familiarly called by the students of the time), but also the preferred venue for the presentation of music recitals, choirs, plays and other performances for the university community, as well as shows for the public of the city.
Although the Aula Máxima de Ingeniería Mecánica preceded the Aula de Ciencias, the latter was, because of the frank inclination of its design and perhaps because of its acoustics, preferred for this type of presentations.
The Jorge Zalamea Cultural Hall, inaugurated in May 1969, on the north side of the UIS Documentation and Bibliography Centre building (where Publications, INSED-IPRED and Communications were located), also served these purposes and served until the end of 2020, when the building was demolished to make way for the Administration 3 building and the new Jorge Zalamea Cultural Hall on the south side of it. It lost that prominence at the beginning of 1982, when the Luis A. Calvo Auditorium, the University’s main cultural venue, became operational.
“This building is based on a rectangular plan that adapts to the site and the very function for which it was designed. It is built with an arcaded structure and masonry walls. The building is totally adapted to the site, it responds to the topography, the location and the winds. Within the design we can find in the lateral facades some openings, also known as windows, through which the space was originally ventilated and illuminated”, comments the architect Juan Alejandro Cano Valencia, representative to the Departmental Council of Heritage of Santander and professor in the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Santo Tomás Bucaramanga.
And he continues: “At the top we can see an expansion between the walls and the roof, covered by louvres that allowed permanent ventilation of the space, creating thermal comfort inside”.
In 2018, the Aula Máxima de Ciencias underwent a contemporary internal and external restoration and modernization by Fabián Camargo Arquitectos, respecting the original architecture and making improvements to the interior and its function. The space corresponding to the stage is opened to the outside and is used on both sides, from the inside and the outside, as a kind of theatrical space with bleachers that can be seen from the adjoining Pro Welfare building, for which a hinged door was adapted.
“Also noticeable is the change in the upholstered seating, the floors are covered with colorful carpets, the walls are covered with a grey material similar to drywall and, in general, the building is equipped with designs and materials that give it an outstanding acoustic quality,” says architect Cano Valencia, of the Ginvearqui research group.
In order to complete the fitting out of the place, state-of-the-art audio, video and streaming connection equipment was installed, so that it is connected both with the different auditoriums on the campus and with the outside world. Today, the Aula Máxima de Ciencias is one of the most attractive and sought-after auditoriums on the university’s central campus, used mainly for academic activities.
