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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

#441

Post by thehappypm »

adenozine wrote: post #42

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…

This dorm gives everyone their own private room, far more privacy than the forced doubles and triples many (most) college have today.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#442

Post by xboxnolifes »

adenozine wrote: post #42

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…

> There's no way to succeed in such a high pressure environment like those college years with so little space and so little privacy

I feel like you haven't been in a college dorm in at least the last decade. These look far better than most dorms I know of.

I'd much prefer this setup than the dorms I had to be in freshman year. Small rooms fitting 2, 3, even 4 people in one bedroom is crazy. At least I'd actually have a room to myself. They call the living quarters small, but they look roughly the same size as what I had if you subtracted my roommate's space out of the room.

Thank god I got an off-campus house with friends years 2-5.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#443

Post by thehappypm »

em-bee wrote: post #388
mikeg8 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it is not. Not all rooms can be places along the exterior walls of the building.

in many places in the world houses are designed to allow windows in every room. it's not that hard.

Yes, many buildings are shaped in interesting ways to allow it as well. For example, this building could have an interior courtyard and then have windows facing both out and facing in. Or even a few courtyards.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#444

Post by yardie »

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.

I'll wait for the medical profession to tell me the cure for a major ailment is a windowless, tightly enclosed space with limited circulation.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#445

Post by rfw300 »

dsauerbrun wrote: post #21

as someone who attended ucsb and has also spent a week in a bedroom without a window I really hope this doesn't happen. it'll really mess the kids up. I felt awful waking up in that room. not having any natural light to cue you in to what time it is forces you to turn on the light to wake up. waking up to artificial light is an absolute miserable experience and if I had to do it for a year I would leave... of course…

Not that there aren’t other issues here, but there are imitation windows (portholes?) that would provide that light cue in the morning. It wouldn’t be a totally windowless cell.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#446

Post by pas »

proteal wrote: post #183

I think I understand where they’re coming from by designing such a large, on-campus dorm. There’s limited space at UCSB to physically house kids nearby. If you look at the map, there’s only one walkable community to UCSB and that consists of rented single family homes (2,000 sqft shacks) that you cram 20-30 students in. I would argue that living in the dystopian mega dorm might make more sense for lots of students wh…

I don't get why don't they simply build higher, so more people can get them windowz.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#447

Post by xboxnolifes »

loeg wrote: post #250
adenozine wrote: post #42

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…

My college dorm room (150 sq ft[1]) wasn't much bigger than these rooms, and I had a roommate. Privacy isn't something dorms have had in a long time, and a tiny solo sleeping room actually affords more privacy, I think? My roommate often stayed up late at night playing videogames with voice chat, which sucked in a double. Also a (tiny) single room gives you more privacy for sex, which is another important part of col…

I agree. With the exception of not having a window. This setup looks better in every way than all of the dorms at the college I went to.

Somehow, UCSB considers having 3 people[1] in a room about 2.5x the size as as "having privacy".

[1] https://www.housing.ucsb.edu/housing-options/options-filter/...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#448

Post by NewJazz »

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…

A building meant to house 4500 students, with only two entrances? There's a word for that: deathtrap.

For more than just reasons if fire in my opinion. I'm surprised nobody has said the word gun yet. Are they going to be scanning people and checking their backpacks art he door? That sure would make it feel more like a prison.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#449

Post by thehappypm »

xg15 wrote: post #403

The reasoning for this architecture is supposedly to encourage socializing, but my suspicion is it will actually do the opposite. The tiny rooms are perfectly compatible with the "antisocial 4channer" lifestyle. Internet addicts will probably be thankful because there is less space they have to keep clean. What it seriously discourages is inviting someone into your room, doing sports, caring for plants or pets or inv…

So what type of dorm encourages any of those activities? A shared double or triple, like what most students deal with?

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#450

Post by dragonwriter »

mindcrime wrote: post #428
_ea1k wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I had no idea that there were still states that wouldn't require them.

There's a lot of nuance to that, because "requirements" vary based on building type and other details. And TBH, I'm not 100% up on the latest details even here in NC, as I've been away from the fire service for some time now. What I can say with some confidence is that sprinklers are widely required in commercial buildings, and I think it's safe to say that's fairly widespread across the US. But even there, I wouldn'…

> For single family homes, I think something like 46 states don't require sprinklers for new construction.

Also, just to add on here, a number of states have adopted statewide rules prohibiting local codes from requiring sprinklers for new single-family homes.

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