On a campus with around 2,000 acres of red bricks, palm trees and secret pockets tucked away between buildings, every Gator eventually finds a corner of campus to call their own.
Looking around the UF campus, you might catch friends sprawled out under the shade of trees, tour groups weaving through the rush of Turlington or someone feeding the campus cats near Pugh Hall. These small rituals turn a massive campus into a series of personal landmarks.
These spots hold memories of thousands of students and faculty members, marking traditions and shaping a campus life beyond lecture halls and exams.
Hidden spots and traditions: Fuchs’ favorites
Interim President Kent Fuchs said some of his go-to locations aren’t generally open to the public, but they’re worth a visit if the opportunity arises.
“I have three favorite spots,” Fuchs wrote in an email.
He encouraged students to climb to the top of Century Tower to watch a carillon player play the bells. The tower has a 49-bell carillon, containing cast bells that are suspended and played using a keyboard with wooden levers that hit the bells.
Century Tower, an iconic UF landmark, stands at the heart of campus. Its bells mark the passage of time, and its lights often reflect the time of the year, with orange and blue lights to mark athletic wins or white, red and green lights as Christmas nears. Watching a carillon player is a rare glimpse into a long-existing Gator tradition.
Fuchs also recommended a quiet reflection in the Baughman Center. The center’s stained-glass windows overlook Lake Alice, offering a retreat from the main campus’ business.
He said one of his rarer student-accessible recommendations is taking a ride in the Dasburg House elevator. The Dasburg House is the UF president’s private residence.
“The elevator has the UF seal embedded in the floor, which I always tried to avoid stepping on when using the elevator,” he wrote.
Architectural UF gems
Professor John Marshall Maze, a UF associate professor of architecture, is passionate about how places can be more than just bricks and cement, holding meaning in various ways — something he teaches in his “Places and Spaces” quest class.
“The University of Florida has many fantastic spaces, from large gathering spaces to very small intimate spaces,” Maze wrote in an email.
Many spaces are considered “sacred” to the UF community, he wrote, “in Emile Durkheim's sociological sense,” meaning it’s important to students not just as individuals but as members of a larger UF community.
Maze recommended some of his favorite architecturally-crafted buildings around the UF campus, including Weimer Hall’s glass atrium. Weimer Hall is the home of the UF College of Journalism and Communications and is recognized for its glass rooftop, which allows for sunlit study spots and shelter on rainy days.
He also encouraged students to visit the unique inflated-roofed atrium of Antevy Hall, which belongs to UF’s College of Design, Construction and Planning.
“This one I am biased about since I have spent almost 25 years working in this space with students and colleagues from the School of Architecture,” he said.
Maze said he enjoys the small courtyard between Turlington and Rolfs Halls.
“I love sitting quietly under the banana trees while reading or collecting my thoughts,” he wrote.
The path between the halls is its own work of wonder, he said. A passerby might travel through Turlington’s tunnel-like breezeways with sculptural skylights, down the stairs, through the courtyard and around Rolf Hall, centered on the front door to Pugh Hall.
“This series of spaces and the eventual alignment with Pugh seems so perfect that it has to have been deliberate,” he wrote.
Maze has played the bagpipe, one of his favorite hobbies, in most of these places, even playing for several weddings and funerals at the Baughman Center, he added.
Student favorites: where Gators study, relax and connect
For many students, their favorite places balance studying and socializing.
Some students find the best spots outdoors. Angie Pleitez, a 20-year-old UF psychology and women’s studies junior, often spreads a blanket in the Plaza of the Americas to study in the sun.
“Camping out there, having a nice little blanket, being under a tree to provide a little bit of shade,” Pleitez said. “It’s definitely an area that I really take advantage of if I just want to not be cooped up in the library all day.”
Plaza offers a green space for any activity from studying to frisbee games and is often filled with students engaged in different hobbies. It’s a social hub where students can relax as they swing on hammocks or churn through assignments under the tree canopy.
Zorielle Bursac, a 20-year-old UF public health junior, said she appreciates outdoor spaces like Liberty Pond outside of the Reitz Union. The pond is surrounded by cushioned stairs, tables and umbrellas, offering a shady study or socializing spot with a view.
It lets you study but still take in the nature, Bursac said.
She also enjoys the space between the Chemistry Laboratory buildings, leading up to Library West. The area consists of concrete benches and tables with the shade of trees overhead. Bursac describes it as a “positive area” perfect for enjoying good weather.
Other students prefer to spend their free time indoors.
Jinyi Lian, a 21-year-old UF computer science senior, mainly studies in the libraries in spots like Library West’s reading areas.
Empty lecture halls around campus, such as Turlington and Keene-Flint after classes conclude, are another of Jinyi’s favorites.
“It’s truly isolated space,” Jinyi said. “I sometimes go to the individual lecture halls because you have access to the full projector.”
He and his friends sometimes turn the lecture halls into impromptu movie theaters, projecting films onto the big screens for a break between or after classes, he said.
Adriana Navarrete, a 20-year-old UF international studies and philosophy junior, favors spending her time in a mix of indoor and outdoor spots.
“A go-to study spot for me is Pugh, just because of how varied the seating arrangement is,” Navarrete said. “If the booths are out, there’s always going to be a seat downstairs.”
When she wants to enjoy time outside, she chooses the concrete picnic tables outside Little Hall, especially during the spring months.
“It’s gorgeous outside,” she said.
Navarrete said she also often sits on the brick walls near Matherly Hall. Matherly is located behind Library West and is surrounded by concrete benches and brick-wall seats in a shaded area. The location is the perfect place to sit and people-watch or catch up with her friends, she said.
For a change of pace, she visits the Reitz Union to play giant chess with her friends or sit on the recently installed bench swings, which she said are “a classic.”
“There’s always something new to find,” Navarrete said. “You’re probably going to find your most comfortable and ideal spot in the most unknown location. Campus is so big. There’s so much to it.”
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@alligator.org. Follow her on X @s_maharaj1611.
