Three campus spaces take new shape
Renovations to the Business Lounge, University Cafeteria, and University Student Commons
By Engr. Paulino Lazarte
A wave of renovations is reshaping where students study, eat, and gather, with much of the work funded by alumni, concessionaires, and corporate partners and timed for completion before the new academic year gains pace.
Business Lounge, now open
The space announced on April 29 as the University’s Business Lounge—the former Study Hall, originally Promenade A—has reached substantial completion. Fully air-conditioned and now operational, it pairs long collaborative tables with upgraded lighting and drop lights for a setting built for both solo study and group work. The last 48 chairs for the long tables are still to be installed.
Anchoring the lounge is Dragon’s Café by Oliver’s Coffee, which opened on June 8. For its first year, the café will cover the lounge’s electrical consumption on top of the standard utility fees in its concession agreement.
U-Caf, modernized
The main university cafeteria, U-Caf by Chef My, is mid-renovation. Fluted wall treatments and laminated panels are giving the room a more contemporary look, while a new melamine-laminated communal table runs beneath six decorative drop lights. Six more will line the tray-line counter, with cove lighting set into the ceiling and counter wall. Once finished—targeted for June—the cafeteria should seat roughly 100 through a mix of round tables and flexible arrangements.
The project is funded by Mylene Dimatulac, owner of Zhakim Food Services. In return, the University has granted Zhakim a minimum three-year leasehold.
A brighter USC
At the University Student Commons, the discussion rooms have already been repainted white, with the project soon to extend to the structural trusses, columns, and sections of flooring. Boysen Paint is donating the materials. The finished commons will read mostly white, set against gray-toned flooring patterned in a subtle white-and-gray bubble motif. Completion is expected by July.
Together, the projects address a sustained care for campus life. Each renovation is set to be accomplished over the coming weeks, and the spaces students pass through every day should feel a little more cared for by the time the first semester of A.Y. 2026-2027 is in full swing.