Venue

The main conferene center will be the Aula Magna.

The Aula Magna is located southwest of the Louvain-la-Neuve Grand-Place, between that and the Louvain-la-Neuve lake, of which it constitutes the northern point.

On the upper-level, open air pedestrian level of Louvain-la-Neuve, the Aula Magna complex is located between the Place Raymond Lemaire (with a main entrance on n°1), the Rue des Frères Lumière, the Traverse Comte Yves du Monceau and Cours Michel Woitrin. On the city's underground, car-based level, the Aula Magna is enclosed within the Boulevard André Oleffe, the Aula Magna exit strip (Quai 10) and the Terrasse de l'Aula, where the ground-level entrance is located (on n°1).

The building stands next to the UGC cinema complex and opposite the hotel and the Resort Urbain Agora residential and hotel complex.

The Aula Magna is both an academic and a multi-purpose auditorium. It has the largest stage in Wallonia, and includes an orchestra pit. The complex comprises a 1050-seat main theatre, and additional rooms and stages: the Foyer du Lac with 300 seats, the Foyer Royal with 250 seats, a dozen of meeting rooms and a vast 1700 m2 hall for banquets of up to 1700 people. In total, the Aula Magna can handle 3300 visitors or conference participants simultaneously.

According to the terms of the Inventory of immovable cultural heritage of the Walloon region, the Aula Magna is a "large parallelepiped made of transparent glass and steel, about thirty metres high and seventy metres long". Still according to the Inventory, "two innovative construction techniques were used: the double skin process and hanging from the top of the façade".

The building contrasts with the buildings on the neighbouring Grand-Place, and with the architecture of Louvain-la-Neuve in general, where brick and concrete dominate.