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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

#221

Post by pphysch »

Sad that economical living spaces are considered so radical on HN.

I lived in a small dorm with a crappy roommate (actual roommate, not flatmate). So I didn't spend any unnecessary time in my room outside of sleeping. I hung out at the library, cafeteria, etc and went to random talks/activities on campus (there are a lot of them on a big campus).

No windows? Sunlight alarms exist. They're great. Modern AC is also great.

I would definitely trade the privacy and security of private quarters for a tiny window that would probably be facing another dorm building.

University campuses are not prisons or suburbs. You can move freely and there are fantastic amenities in walking/shuttle distance. Affordably living in the thick of it, with private quarters, is an incredible luxury for most students.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#222

Post by ryan93 »

mindcrime wrote: post #101
macinjosh wrote: post #70

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.

What percentage of fire doors on dorms do you think are locked or barricaded. .001%, less?

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#223

Post by nineplay »

theroqwpeo wrote: post #75
daniel-thompson wrote: post #24

Munger also did the same thing for the University of Michigan's graduate residence building^; 95% of the rooms have no windows. ^ https://housing.umich.edu/residence-hall/munger/

Reviews of this residence: https://www.veryapt.com/ApartmentReview-a7222-munger-graduat...

Residents seem to like it overall but reading though them, most qualify them as "great except the rooms don't have windows".

It feels mean, for lack of a better word. Maybe particularly in Santa Barbara with its beautiful sunny days. There's something dystopian about putting young students in windowless rooms and figuring "they'll get used to it". Next step is to save money by getting rid of windows in apartments, office buildings, etc. and everyone will spend their day under artificial lighting. There will be social clubs for people who want to see the outside world once a week.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#224

Post by vmception »

ajross wrote: post #209
vmception wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

False dilemma. They could make the first floor have food courts and gyms, while having windows or simply not having a 97 year old billionaire donor dictate taste with zero input just because money. You are assuming a lot about whether the safety designs exist, or are adequate .

> You are assuming a lot about whether the safety designs exist, or are adequate. Uh, yes. Because there are laws governing how we can construct buildings in a safe way, and on the whole (c.f. the number of deaths in building fires over time) they work well. So I trust them. As far as the putative logic flaw, I don't see it. Everything is a tradeoff, even "because money". Saving money on the dorm means lower tuition,…

You're assuming those laws are adequate. I wrote that the first time. It's a bad idea, you trust them just because the catastrophes haven't happened. For the next few weeks in your day to day, look at how many emergency exits are disarmed or blocked or locked, look at how many other inspectable things just aren't inspected, like when the last elevator inspection occurred on the ones you use.

We're trying to save people that trust the system too much. Let me know if you know any people like that.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#225

Post by MR4D »

raldi wrote: post #184
giarc wrote: 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.

I count ten emergency stairwells on every floor: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FC1jlGjVEAIvAG8?format=jpg

That's 450 people per stairwell. Assuming 20 people per floor, it would be packed with lines extending out into the floors.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#226

Post by danso »

daniel-thompson wrote: post #24

Munger also did the same thing for the University of Michigan's graduate residence building^; 95% of the rooms have no windows. ^ https://housing.umich.edu/residence-hall/munger/

Worth noting that the UM building is a significantly different scope and scape:

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2015/07/heres_your_firs...

It houses 96 suites, 6—7 bedrooms each. Each bedroom is 16x9 with their own private bathroom. In one of the blueprints in the UCSB article, there appears to be 1 bathroom per 8 suites [1].

To be fair, graduate housing is supposed to be a bit better than undergrad dorms — especially in regards to not having to share a bedroom with a total stranger. And maybe the UCSB's tiny single room design (windowless or not) will be a good tradeoff for not having to have a roommate as an undergrad.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_WUixhkwu4&t=32s

[1] https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/munge...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#227

Post by rglullis »

ajross wrote: post #142
mindcrime wrote: post #91

From my point-of-view as a former firefighter, I would say this: A building meant to house 4500 students, with only two entrances? There's a word for that: deathtrap. Building this is setting UCSB up to be the site of the next Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire[1], Station Nightclub fire[2], or Hamlet Chicken Processing Plant fire[3]. At a first glance, based only on the information provided in the article, I'd say tha…

Surely building codes mandate a comprehensive evacuation design. There are clearly aesthetic complaints many people will have here, but realistically safety shouldn't be a problem. This is simply not a "large" building by skyscraper standards, and those can be built safely. Honestly... I think this is very much a taste thing. Is it so weird that I don't think this looks so bad at all? Yeah, yeah, no windows. But dens…

> These 4500 kids in their sardine rooms will have multiple food options, probably several gyms, rec rooms, libraries, etc... all "down the hall".

No better way to get kids prepared for what comes ahead in their adulthood, huh?

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#228

Post by pphysch »

aristophenes wrote: post #196
baggy_trough wrote: post #19

I’d rather have no roommate than a window.

You’d have seven roommates and would also have no window. Looking at the layout, it’s like sharing a tiny apartment with 7 other people. This is the worst part, if you have one disruptive person out of eight, they are going to make everyone else miserable. Hard to get sleep, hard to study.

No, actual room mates. Not flat mates. Like sharing a bed room or bunk bed with a stranger, hostel style. That's what this is competing with.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#229

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

kpmcc wrote: post #202
theroqwpeo wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reviews of this residence: https://www.veryapt.com/ApartmentReview-a7222-munger-graduat...

Note that many of the positive reviews are from pre-covid times and the two that coincide with the pandemic note how ill suited it is to such conditions.

I agree, but I'd also challenge that we shouldn't be designing our permanent, 100+ year structures around pandemics.
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