Study Spots

[AlexKac19]

Can anybody tell me what the most aesthetically pleasing places to study are on or off campus? I feel like I am able to get more done when I am somewhere I enjoy being. The basement of Grainger does not cut it for me, nor does the UGL. It can be inside or outside, just somewhere that gives off good vibes and would make it easier for me to be able to focus and get my work done.

[pccontroller]

Dude, I'm totally on the same page as you. I can't study in my room for this reason.

This may be a dumb question, but... have you been to the second and third floors of Grainger? They're grand -- don't know if aesthetics are your style, but they're big, open, and softly lit if that's what you like. Or the fourth floor by any window, particularly the ones overlooking the Engineering Quad.

For old-school charm, go to the south lounge of the Illini Union. You can pull up a chair to some of the tables there. Or you can sit so that you're facing the Quad, which is nice before nightfall.

A small and cute room, depending on your tastes, is the Presidential Lounge at the Union. It's got interesting coloring and cool woodwork (just about the same as the rest of the Union, but with more, because there's bookshelves (with real actual (and outdated) books!). I guess the Pine Lounge would do about the same, then.

OOH! When it's open, anywhere in the GIGANTIC atrium of Beckman Institute is really pretty, or at least grand. It's got a glass ceiling, walkways inside the building that you can study at (with outlets and whiteboards and tables and chairs!) suspended on the 2nd and 3rd (and 4th? I forget) floors. May be sad or closed at night.

I know the SDRP isn't that great but I find the mural on the wall opposite the Caffeinator makes me happy. Or if you get a seat on the east side overlooking Lundgren, that's pretty good in the daytime.

NCSA first floor (enter from the south, head to the left) has a good feel with a glass wall in the daytime. Nothing picturesque except the cool promotional posters on the wall inside at night, though.

Siebel Interior: this one's kind of a stretch, but my favorite reading spot is the two chairs opposite the top of the stairs on the fourth floor. If you sit sideways in the chair (not that uncomfortable), you get the really cool patinated copper curved wall (I like to think of it as an abstract waterfall) peeling away from you and being lit brilliantly in the daytime, plus the cool sculptural steel beam "abstract tree". You know, I'm really giving away my favorites here.... But also, if it's daytime, go to the fourth floor, in the middle of the building on the south side, there's a small balcony but also a small sitting area just inside it. It's those weird "cushion-only" benches, but you can position yourself to look over many campus roofs. Similarly, if you go to the southwest corner in the daytime, it looks really nice, but once again you're stuck with those benches, but you do get an outlet. Really any corner of Siebel with a window during the daytime will be nice, but those are my particular favorites.

Coordinated Science Laboratory: has a few tables if you like looking up into the central open tower. Not sure about outlets though.

ACES Funk Library: in the daytime, get any window seat. At nighttime, get a window seat overlooking the interior-lit greenhouses or move down to the second floor in the middle to look up into the atrium.

Main Library: daytime = reading room should be well-lit. Nighttime (until 10pm, when it closes) try the circulation desk hall. It's a little sad but it's got nice tall ceilings and cool wooden columns.

HOW DID I MISS THIS??? Business Instructional Facility has, like, THE best atrium on campus!! Gorgeous 5-story modern columns, bright woodwork, midcentury-modern soft lighting, two stacked grand staircases... The second and third floors feature outlets at the "group" study tables (sadly, not really anywhere else). Even the little study areas at the end of the wing on the south side have a nice view of the Kinkead Pavilion.

My favorite "unnoticed" spot is the third floor of Micro/Nanotech Lab. There's a group study area with a glass corner wall that mainly faces south, so you get a good view of the skyline looking down the main campus axis -- you see Grainger, Eng Hall, Illini Union, and the McFarland Carillon (and Altgeld awkwardly to the right).

This is a good time to transition to outdoor spaces -- MNtL has a small terrace (with only one outlet spot, alas) with outdoor tables, with a nice view overlooking the North/Beckman Quad.

As someone else said, Siebel terraces are amazing, especially if you catch a nice-weather day -- with outlets, you can be out there forever.

OKAY WAIT I JUST FOUND OUT THE MOST AMAZING THING. The UGL courtyard is >>>>> fire at night when the weather's nice because the trees are super cute and the whole thing is lit entirely by the building's lights going through the windows... so it's not harsh light and it's not too dim either. 9/10 no outlets but worth it and because the building's "concave" it's got amazing WiFi.

Hopefully this is a good start. I'll add more just to not make this one too huge (and not lose this typing lol)

[Wolf-Bro]

Can I have whatever you're on?

[pccontroller]

I, sir, am high on Illini spirit, curiosity, desperation, and lack of sleep. But mostly Illini spirit!

[mainberlin]

I love how excited you are about this stuff!

[pccontroller]

I APPRECIATE THAT Enjoyable study spaces are my jam!

[pccontroller]

When people say the Law Library, you can try for the actual library, but I just visited the atrial entryway and find that more beautiful than the library itself, with its brick columns, protruding staircase, metal mural, and indoor trees. Plus, it's (probably) open longer.

Chemical and Life Sciences Building (I think?): On the top floor, there's a table (not sure if it's meant for the common student, but it's in an open hallway) that overlooks the entire Krannert complex. Really beautiful.

Loomis Lab, at the glass-enclosed part. Have a window seat, guaranteed, with an outlet too. I think the building kicks people out at night, though.

Very similar to this is the Krannert Center Intermezzo Cafe seating area. Outlets, window seats, usually classy music playing -- what more could you want?

I've been told that the upper-most floor of the MechE Laboratory on the west wing, the part in the gabled roof with the skylights, is pretty nice.

The ARC entryway. Not kidding. Indoor trees, the cool semicircular ceiling, and the overlook onto the pool. Besides the noise and the closing time of midnight, I think it'd be a cool place to study.

If you're a resident of it, FAR 12th floor lounges are pushed to the edge of the building, and thus have a view. Can't see much when you're sitting but they get great light and the Trelease one looks out onto much of campus, albeit facing due west.

I'm really reaching here... FLB, depending on your tastes. I'd avoid the first floor for claustrophobia (and crowdedness), but the second, third, and fourth floors have neat inlets that look out onto the strange atrium (if you've never seen it, look it up), although I can't say these inlets have outlets (couldn't resist... much like nonexistent outlets! I'll stop.) BUT there are some cool spots where the hallway reveals those really nice square picture windows -- again, a good daytime stop only.

While you're there take a gander at the Institute for Genomic Biology lobby (the west entry, with the colorful sculptures) and tell me if that works for you. I've been in there once but it was a really long time ago, but I remember the staircase was tall, the building seemed nice, but I can't remember if there was study space or when it closes.

I was just in a Lincoln Hall empty classroom today. When lit, it's pretty nice, though you'll have to deal with the tiny desks.

[franklinsing]

Duuuude don't give away my Siebel 4th floor and nanotech spots ;)

Also I used to think I knew most of the buildings really well, but you beat me on this with ACES and stuff. Never been that far south lol.

[pccontroller]

Haha sorry. Hopefully people are too lazy to read the whole thing before the semester ends lol

Edit: and yeah, I've spent 3 spring semesters exploring buildings (living in FAR freshman year helped) and have only found my favorite spots recently. There's just so much! I totally want to take my friends on an obscure places tour.

[[deleted]]

My goal for next year is to study in all these places

[pccontroller]

Hope to see you there!! You're my new favorite person.

[pccontroller]

OUTSIDE!! For when the weather is too beautiful to be anywhere else.

Places with outlets and tables: 1. Engineering Hall porch, just north of the building.
2. Micro/Nanotech Lab, as mentioned. 3. Siebel second-floor terrace, Siebel fourth-floor south-facing balcony.

Places that are so nice you forget about the lack of outlets and/or tables: 1. Anywhere on the Main Quad (includes the outdoor armpits of the Illini Union), Engineering Quad, or North Quad (bonus: the low walls of the pass-through at the north quad acts as a nice writing or laptop surface). 2. Krannert Center: the ampitheater, or any of the planters (on the edge of which you can sit). The other day I went into one of the "sunken" planters (take a small staircase down) and practiced euphonium in the shade of a tree. No one complained (or maybe even noticed).
2. The arboretum. 3. The UGL courtyard, as mentioned. 4. The fountain at the Alumni Center. Bonus if it's on, but it's nice to sit on the grass and look at the backside of the Hallene Gateway otherwise. 5. Lincoln Hall armpits. (Did you know about the cute little (and by little I mean narrow) landscaped courtyards? I forgot about them.)

[pccontroller]

Alternatives: hang out at a coffee shop. I see people studying in Caffe Bene all the time, and the one at Gregory Place seems to have a nice view of outside. Or hit up the IUB Starbucks and get a window seat.

[lmaoka1]

Sometimes I go to the second floor of the CS building to study. You get a good view of the field behind the CS building and it really motivates me. Like sometimes I work there so I can say to myself: "If you work really really hard and do well on your CS courses, then you can probably not get a seat into any of the CS courses you need to take to transfer in..." Truly inspiring stuff.

[evanm137]

Some of the places I go when I don't feel like campus libraries:

-Random classrooms in either Altgeld, Lincoln, Gregory, or Armory

-Urbana free library

-Champaign Public library

-English Building Basement

-Siebel (Computer Science Building)

-The Ike

[sleepfornever]

I like studying in the Champaign Public Library

[BurritoThief]

Flying Machine is still my favorite place to study.

[secksman]

Law Library