The first building at South Carolina College was Rutledge Chapel, which served as residence hall, chapel, administrative, and academic building at the same time. Soon after, DeSaussure Collge was built. Surrounding these two buildings, others were constructed in the shape of a horseshoe. Among them was Caroliniana Library, the first free-standing library in the United States.

The horseshoe is in downtown Columbia, one block to the southeast of the State Capitol. During the 20th century, the campus began to spread dramatically in every direction but northwest. Today it includes the student union, 21 residence halls, numerous academic buildings, Longstreet Theatre, the Koger Center for the Arts, the Carolina Colliseum, the Colonial Center, Sarge Frye Field, and various facilities for Olympic sports.

Recently added to the campus were the greek village and the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center, the largest facility of its kind on a college campus in the US.

West Quad was opened in the fall of 2004. A residence hall that is likely to be one of only four residence halls in the world to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program

Future plans include the construction of a research campus, mainly between the horseshoe and the Congaree river, the construction of a new home for the Arnold School of Public Health, and the building of a new baseball stadium adjacent to the Colonial Center.