Place #10: HUB Green Roof Terrace
Wow, I can’t believe this is already the last passion blog post for the semester! I actually wanted to reserve the place I’m going to talk about for this post for when the weather got a bit nicer, but even though it’s still really cold, I’m going to go ahead and still write about it 🙂
So the place for my last passion blog post is the sunroof garden on top of the HUB! Maybe some of you have been there before, but if you haven’t you should definitely go there at least once this semester. It’s located right above the Student Bookstore Starbucks (shout out to my place #8) and you can get there by walking up the sitting steps across from Jamba Juice.
The Green Roof Terrace was actually a class gift from the class of 2014, and as President Barron said, ““Class gifts are always a treasured addition to our campus, and the process of realizing the vision for the class gift is always unique. This was especially true with this class gift: a living green roof that adds a beautiful and educational outdoor space to the new HUB addition.” It’s true, the terrace really is beautiful, and you get a nice view of campus.
There are basically two parts of the terrace, the garden and the seating area. The purpose of the garden is of course to make use of the Earth’s resources and make Penn State a more sustainable university. The seating is purely for students to get some fresh air, enjoy the sun, and have a place to study/socialize.
Roof top garden are used more and more around the United States. I have notices a lot of homes 
in New York City now also have roof top gardens. While green space isn’t scarce around campus in Central Pennsylvania, it’s still beneficial. Roof top gardens can be used for decorative purposes only, or can be used for hydroponic farming, architectural enhancements, habitats for wildlife, and even temperature control.
At Penn State, I must admit that the seating area of the Green Roof Terrace is pretty small, and you can’t always get a place to sit at the tables or the wooden benches along the sides. But if you do manage to get a place, not only are you lucky, but you’ll also be sitting at one of the coolest places on campus.
The HUB Green Roof Terrace is open basically from dawn to dusk, so it’s open whenever the sun is out. However, I’m pretty sure the terrace is NOT open yet for this year due to the weather.
As for food, I don’t think I have to mention that there are a lot of places to get food in the HUB. My personal favorites are the Apple and Greens smoothie from Jamba Juice and the Honey Walnut Shrimp from Panda Express, in case you were wondering 🙂
Like I say in every post, go ahead and give this place a try when the weather gets a little warmer!
Anyways, I hope my blog this semester gave you some inspiration to go out and find hidden and unique places to eat and study around campus. I have given you a list as a start, but I really do encourage you to explore on your own, too, because Penn State has such a beautiful and cool campus that you won’t want to miss out!
Rosa Padt • April 12, 2018
Yasmin Ali April 13, 2018 - 3:57 pm
I love the rooftop garden at the HUB; I was actually just there eating lunch, so it is funny to see that you wrote about it in your blog! Personally, I do not normally like studying in the HUB because I get easily distracted, but the rooftop garden is definitely a more mellow area for people to work in. Although there is not much seating, that makes sense since the area is supposed to primarily be for gardening purposes. In general, I really like the use of rooftop gardens since they are really good for the environment, and they are very aesthetically pleasing haha. I think it is neat to consider how a way was developed for people in city areas to be able to have a form of gardening if they do not have as much space in their own land. Although Penn State does not really have an issue with garden space, it was definitely a great addition to the HUB!
jms8737 April 14, 2018 - 12:45 am
I’ve never been to the rooftop garden, but I’ve always thought it was so cool! And now that today was so nice, I’ll definitely have to check it out. I love the passion you have in your voice when writing these blogs. You do such a great job in describing the places you like to go, and you make your reader want to go there as well. I wish I could keep reading your blogs, because I love finding out about places here that I can go to eat and study, because that’s all I ever seem to do!
Jacob Iwinski April 16, 2018 - 6:07 am
I cannot wait for the green roof terrace to be open again. Just the feeling of being on top of a building is something that I cherish. The feeling of being elevated physically cannot be recreated. I have been known to climb trees just to be up high and enjoy the view. Having a place to study on top of a building would be even cooler. Some of the Pollock commons have rooftop areas, but I have never been. They are always locked when I try.