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Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

independent.com

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Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#151
post #135

Jesus FUCK that's a horrible idea. My neighbor is a maintenance guy for a sober living complex and he has talked to me about maintaining these kinds of high density environments, and this seems like a nightmare scenario just waiting to happen. Also, just emotionally, this can't possibly work. There's no way to succeed in such a high pressure environment like those college years with so little space and so little priv…

So little privacy? The first three of my four years in college I had shared rooms; only had a single my senior year. I think that's reasonably common? This is much more privacy than that. (Lack of windows is much more of an issue from my perspective)

As long as the ventilation is good, I don't care about the windows -- the idea is that you should use your bedroom for sleeping at night, and go socialize and learn about things elsewhere.

I suspect that a lot of night-owl students will actually appreciate the lack of windows and roommates -- they'll sleep better.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#152
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As point out elsewhere, 2 entrances doesn't mean 2 egress points. There are likely lots of one way doors out of the building.

History suggests that the primary ingress/egress points are the only ones worth considering. Emergency doors have a nagging tendency to be obstructed, hidden, barricaded or even flat-out locked even when they're not allowed to be. And that's assuming people will know where they are. When they're half-drunk, half-stoned, half-asleep, and wandering around in a smoke filled corridor at 2:00 am.

Indeed. From the linked articles above:

> Because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked – a common practice at the time to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft – many of the workers could not escape from the burning building and jumped from the high windows.

> Various historians have also ascribed the exit doors being locked to management's wanting to keep out union organizers due to management's anti-union bias. The foreman who held the stairway door key had already escaped by another route.

> Within three minutes, the Greene Street stairway became unusable in both directions. Terrified employees crowded onto the single exterior fire escape – which city officials had allowed Asch to erect instead of the required third staircase

> The toxic smoke, heat, and the resulting human rush toward the main exit killed 100; 230 were injured and another 132 escaped uninjured.

> By this time, the nightclub's fire alarm had activated, and although there were four possible exits, most people headed for the front door through which they had entered. The ensuing crowd crush in the narrow hallway leading to that exit quickly blocked the exit completely and resulted in numerous deaths and injuries among the patrons and staff.

> Twenty-five workers were killed and 55 injured in the fire, trapped behind locked fire doors.

> The majority of those who escaped unharmed were workers in the front of the building who left through the unlocked main entrance,

It seems clear that two entrances/exists are not enough, even if there is numerous of extra emergency exists. People will, in panic, return to the point they came from, even if emergency exists are highlighted.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#153
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution to this is for someone else to offer a more compelling vision of the future that is also practical and achievable. Take Elon Musk for example. His vision of the future is more compelling than anything I hear any politician of any political party in the USA (or most other nations) putting forward. I find the standard issue right-wing vision of the future repugnant and the standard issue left-wing vision c…

If he wasn't sucking at the US Government's teat for funding for SpaceX, tax breaks for Tesla, and evading income taxes then I might admire the guy, but as it is, he's the same corporate grifter in a new set of clothes.

I mean, compare SpaceX against, say, SLS, and it looks like a pretty cost-effective form of government spending.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#154

I'm going to depart from the norm here... And announce I'd actually like to live in that building. I really value communal shared space, and very few types of housing provide it - usually dedicating 90%+ of space to individuals to live a gloomy existence mostly alone requiring Netflix for company. Shared space should be 'tiered' - Ie. Personal space, space shared with near neighbors, space shared with a wider neighbo…

I’m with you, but I’d go one step further. I’d like this setup for a work environment. Small, individual offices with doors, connected to a shared team room with a dedicated conference table. With such a setup, you can opt to isolate for some distraction free work, or socialize, working together around the shared conference table.

If I were UCSB, I’d build a scale dorm with the layout - (32-150) rooms, with real windows (that could be painted over initially to mirror the planned false window). Surely Munger’s donation doesn’t require the full size building to be completed in X years. Take his money, build the test - validate that it causes no psychological harm, calm the critics, and then build the full sized one.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#155
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100%. Sure, the billionaire is probably an asshole, but he’s also 97 and not an architect. The real problem here is the leadership at the university deciding to move forward with this monstrosity just to get a big donation.

You do not need to be an architect to see that living in windowless boxes (not rooms) will damage young adults psychologically. Just put yourself into this room and try to study for 6 hours a day. It looks worse than a prison cell. This old fart probably has his own ideas about how poor students need to work and live in order to "earn" an education. Not to mention anything regarding virus spreading...

I worked in this office where there were windows, but I was really far away from any of the light they emitted. I'd get these pounding headaches every day until I moved to a different floor where I was closer to the window. It was a miserable place to work.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#156
post #28

Glad he had the balls to step down and call them out. The other committee members and people in charge of the project should be embarrassed as they failed to represent the best needs of the university and its students. Windowless dorms, crazy 97 year old billionaire amateur architect and a bunch of corrupt university staff and committee members who would do anything to save a few bucks. What could go wrong? Humanity…

What I don't understand is how this shithole costs so much? 1.5 billion for 4,500 residents comes out to 333,333 per resident. It feels like they could probably build normal dorms for that price.

This looks so insane to me, I wonder how much building a normal apartment would cost in that area. I'm building a 7000sqft high-standard house in South America for around 200K USD.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#157
post #31

"The idea was conceived by 97-year-old billionaire-investor turned amateur-architect Charles Munger, who donated $200 million toward the project with the condition that his blueprints be followed exactly." Absolutely amazing

Classic example of somebody becoming rich and thinking that makes them an expert on everything and the most qualified to solve any problem they cast their mind to. See also: just about every other billionaire on the planet.

Warren Buffet himself calls it the "Shoe Button Complex"

Apparently from his youth, his Dad had a friend that ran a shoe button factory and managed to corner the entire market of shoe buttons. Then in his personal life went on to be a know it all about everything else on the planet.

Munger and Buffet both are pretty transparent about being so didactic though. If you don't want the strings attached to the money, say no.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entrances != Egresses. Do you ever notice those doors that say emergency exit only?

Which history shows us tend to be locked or barricaded when they're not supposed to be, or obstructed in some other way, or otherwise unavailable. Sure, there are other egresses available in principle. Hell, you can sledge-hammer your way through a wall in a pinch. But in any practical sense? Having two primary ingress/egress points is a horrible idea.

I can't recall the last time I saw a fire exit blocked... Feels like one of those things people keep repeating because of a handful of newsworthy events a year...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#159

The University of Arizona has a dorm built into its stadium and the rooms to the seating side, which do not have windows despite being large, are no longer used. They were associated with higher suicide rates or something like that.

Being in a room with no windows seems like a great way to get seasonal affective disorder all year long.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do not need to be an architect to see that living in windowless boxes (not rooms) will damage young adults psychologically. Just put yourself into this room and try to study for 6 hours a day. It looks worse than a prison cell. This old fart probably has his own ideas about how poor students need to work and live in order to "earn" an education. Not to mention anything regarding virus spreading...

But you do need to prove that statement because you are implying it's obvious

There's a huge amount of research done by actual architects on what makes a building "healthy" for human occupation. https://www.wellcertified.com/
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