The Graduate Student Commons is located on Quarry Plaza across from the Bay Tree Bookstore at UC Santa Cruz. Completed at the same time as the bookstore, the Commons serves as the meeting place for graduate students who live off-campus. The facility includes a café with an outdoor dining terrace on the plaza between the commons and the bookstore. The second floor of the building houses conference rooms, private study areas and a lounge that is the social hub for the graduate students. A small terrace with seating is tucked into the hillside behind the building. Shaded with native California buckeye, the terrace provides an informal gathering area for graduate students.