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Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

independent.com

261–270 of 700 posts

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#261
post #209

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,…

Laws work together with norms.

The norms of architecture that mandate e.g. windows for living spaces are here being violated so extremely someone's stepping down over it. This is therefore not an average project.

Concern seems reasonable.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#262
post #253
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…

>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-...

this only betrays a deep misunderstanding on your part of the challenges in construction and issues with Sub grade stability in coastal zones and how different those things are to having enough fire exits.

Your comment is not making any point but your of lack of understanding.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#263

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/

At least there everyone seems to get their own bathroom. The UCSB version seems to have one bathroom and one shower for every suite of 8

We had 2 toilets and 1 shower (in a single shared bathroom) per suite of 16 students at UW in McMahon: https://hfs.uw.edu/Live/Undergraduate-Housing-Rates-and-Info...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#264
post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Design life for buildings is under 50 years and 100-year pandemics are somewhat less frequent? I mean I agree it would be a miserable place to shelter-in-place for COVID, but with COVID in the rear-view mirror for the vaccinated, I'm not sure it's a major concern. I think fire safety, lack of entrances, lack of windows and fresh air are bigger concerns.

Gamblers fallacy. Not sure what you're contributing besides.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#265
The cost of housing needs to be brought down in California via regulation. This could be done by no longer permitting commissions on the sale of real estate for example and by only allowing for a small fixed fee in a transaction, e.g. $500. One of the main problems with the rising cost is the realtors who constantly jack up the price artifically.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#268
post #85
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really difficult when a large part of the population is either apathetic or actively sympathetic to the policies of these insane people.

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…

Elon's vision is being the king of Mars, where the only law is his own. I'm not sold.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#269
This building does look like a miserable place and that's before it gets used - just from renders. It looks like the work of someone designing a low security jail who thinks it's art.

Give the cheap furnishings a couple years of abuse from students this will be Pruitt igoe or a jail with actual jail blocks but at least the idiot who designed it is paying for it himself.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#270

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…

Yes the local building code has required sprinklers for some years now.
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