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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

#251

Post by bell-cot »

1cvmask wrote: post #99

The part I don't get is that the total project will cost over 1.5 billion USD and Charlie Munger, the value investor, will get his building and name on it for only 200 million. The art of the deal for him for sure. But the school is screwing themselves and the students for such a measly donation in terms of the totality of the deal.

With the reputation & nicknames the place may soon have with students - "Mungertraz", "Gulag Munger", "Black Hole of Chuck Munger", "Bergen-Munger", etc. - the naming rights aspect may at least be a "better" deal for the University.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#252

Post by [deleted] »

musingsole wrote: post #15
graeme wrote: post #3

Interesting collision of the idea with the covid era. During an outbreak you’d want students to have a private airspace to go to and the possibility of ventilation. Update: from another comment, Munger designed a similar building in Michigan. It has great reviews! But, one of the top ones was “great until pandemic”. Adding this to clarify that, contra other comments, I don’t necessarily think Munger was mistaken. But…

No kidding! We just went through 2 years where this building would've been the absolute worst to grapple with. Imagine those 4,500 being told to sit out the pandemic in their rooms. How can they miss the problem when the worst case scenario for some idiotic design like this happened last year!

[deleted]

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#253

Post by tw04 »

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…

>Surely building codes mandate a comprehensive evacuation design.

Surely building codes should mandate structural flaws and sinking foundations be fixed immediately.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/collapsed-miami-condo-had-...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#254

Post by danso »

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.

Having your own "pod" (within a shared common suite) may be preferable than the standard situation of sharing a standard-size bedroom with a stranger. One bit of context is that UCSB has had a profound housing shortage (since at least 2010), and students have had to triple up in rooms: https://www.independent.com/2021/07/27/ucsb-offers-new-detai...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#255

Post by helen___keller »

Ericson2314 wrote: post #234

OK hold up, density is good. Let's not do some laundered CA-loves-housing-crunch here. But yes, the thing needs more entrances, windows, and also the floorspace needs vastly more street interaction. There is this sick thing where if you compare old and new buildings, and the streetscape is vastly less compact than it used to be. My favorite comparison is in Long Island City: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7487041,-7…

Strongly agree. I feel very lucky, personally, for the dorms I had in university that were basically on city streets intermingled with private homes, businesses, and so on. After growing up an incredibly cloistered childhood in an inescapable car suburb, living in walkable (while suburban) Pittsburgh was incredible by comparison and really let me grow into a functional adult if I'm being honest.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#256

Post by jl6 »

nescioquid wrote: post #214
ajross wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Former firefighter cautions we should be skeptical of the safety of this plan, and your rebuttal is "surely building codes mandate..."? A zero-evidence rebuttal concerning the safety of 4500 students.

I don’t find it unreasonable to assume that the building will comply with government fire safety regulations and that those regulations are at least somewhat adequate.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#257

Post by graeme »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #229
kpmcc wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well….designing a building to be good for pandemics also means making it be good for respiratory viruses in general.

You do, in fact, want to have 100 year water systems that would work in a cholera epidemic. Designing buildings for good airflow will probably not go out of style either.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#258

Post by mchusma »

I love this building concept. Affordable housing is critical, and the structure of grouping the rooms together is a great fit for the college lifestyle. Having your own room is pretty awesome versus bunk beds (my college experience).

There is nothing bad about this that I can see. If you don't want to live there, don't do it. But describing this as some kind of hellscape is way off the mark.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#259

Post by raldi »

Gare wrote: post #219
raldi wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of windows and natural light in the common areas; the design is meant to encourage congregation there. The bedrooms are just for sleeping, dressing, and sex.

I count 64 bedrooms per "house". That's a lot of people for a single common area that doesn't seem that big.

There's a small common area for every eight bedrooms, and larger ones shared between groups.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#260

Post by ciabattabread »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #229
kpmcc wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The reason old NYC buildings have radiators that are so hot, you need to open a window to let in the winter air, is because they were purposely designed that way. Because of the 1918 flu pandemic.[0]

Also, there are a bunch of things that we consider normal that were born of crisis: [1]

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/the-curio...

[1] https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/war-famine-pestilence...

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