Some synagogues have a room for prayers that's used on a regular basis: weekdays, Shabasos, holidays. If there are two simultaneous minyanim, then one will be elsewhere, of course, but otherwise the main prayer room is always used.
Other synagogues have a main prayer room used on Shabasos, holidays, and on certain other occasions; on weekdays, however, prayers are held in a smaller room, often called the "chapel" or the "bes midrash", and the large prayer room goes unused.
Obviously, acoustics, demographics, and other pragmatics might influence whether a given synagogue is of the first type (described in the first paragraph) or of the second (described in the second paragraph). I am wondering whether there are also halachic or philosophical issues that affect this choice: do, for example, synagogues of the first type follow one halachic ruling or moral teaching, and those of the second type follow another?
