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Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

independent.com

461–470 of 700 posts

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#461
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)

I lived in a four-bedroom apartment with individual bedrooms (and three common rooms) my first two years and a rented house with a couple of housemates my last two. From the rendering shown, these kids will have less space by something like a factor of ten. The amount of living space per student proposed here is by no means common and really does look like a prison block.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#462
post #142

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…

It's clear the donor purposefully designed the rooms to be unpleasant to get people up into common rooms. It's just... weird. It doesn't matter if it looks good or bad but uncomfortable design like this is bizarrely aggressive to students, who are already living away from home and at-risk for depression and suicide.

Not to mention that housing like this makes breeding grounds for the flu and other contagious illnesses. It's poorly timed given we're still battling Covid-19 worldwide.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#463
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…

The design looked like rooms inside a pod inside a building. Seems like a fire in front of a single door could in theory kill everyone in the pod based on the image in the article. Honestly, this looks like a low security prison to me. Small cells and a day room for activities and socializing.

If they lofted the bed, the desk could be moved under the bed. And if they had everyone just wear house uniforms, they could reduce the need for storage space and reduce the size of the rooms by 1/3

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#464
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...

Millions of people ( billions?) live in windowless boxes (not rooms) and there is no evidence they're damaged psychologically. I'm not saying I don't prefer windows but this kind of statement strikes me as privileged bubble thinking.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#465

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 gre…

> No windows? Sunlight alarms exist. They're great. Modern AC is also great. From an economic standpoint, why spend money on an inferior substitute when you can get the real thing for free?!

The real thing isn't free. It costs an externally facing wall.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#467
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal is to get the students out of their bedrooms. There's plenty of common space, and lots of really nice places to go study and socialize out of your bedroom. This is intended to promote real-life socialization, which is the only real reason to go to in-person college these days. Plus, everyone gets a single! My college roommates had blackout curtains on the small windows in our rooms. Not sure how this is diff…

Introvert's nightmare. Also, who can study in a common area with all the noise?

This is why the library exists.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#468
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

"deep misunderstanding on your part of the challenge"

A citizen doesn't care about challenges in construction or software or food contamination, it is our professional responsibility not to be negligent in our work.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#469
This story brings back memories of my college days studying philosophy and reading about Jeremy Bentham’a Panopticon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon

Philosophy classes should have a field day with Munger’s design and these kinds of social experiments.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#470
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 — espe…

> there appears to be 1 bathroom per 8 suites That looks like two bathrooms per 1 suite, or 1 bathroom per 4 rooms. I never shared a bathroom with less than 3 other people in my four years at college, so that doesn't seem particularly out of the ordinary for an undergraduate dorm. The difference in size of rooms seems significant, though.

Looks like it's might be 2 bathrooms based on this tiny floorplan image [0], I thought from the isometric image it was 1.5 (2 toilets, 1 shower). And it looks like there's maybe 2 common area toilets. The ratio seems fine in theory...I think my undergrad dorm floor had 2 communal bathrooms with 8 toilet stalls and 8 showers for 30-35 residents. I'm assuming intersuite sharing would become normal.

The podsize also isn't that bad in theory — they aren't much smaller than I remember the single rooms in my dorm being. The big difference is that the single rooms had windows, but also allowed for lofted beds — e.g. you would put your desk under the bed, and there'd be enough room to have a small couch where the desk would normally be. The UCSB pod furniture appears to be fixed (but again, it's just an architect drawing)

[0] https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/dormi...

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