Let's just call it Suicide Hall from the start, because that's going to be its name in the future.
Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
471–480 of 700 posts
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#472Earlier quoted context omitted.
But you do need to prove that statement because you are implying it's obvious
There's a huge amount of research done by actual architects on what makes a building "healthy" for human occupation. https://www.wellcertified.com/
There's also an incentive for them to make buildings as large and as expensive as possible as they it affects their income. Certainly I'd argue self interestedly that all living quarters should be as large and extravagant as possible as I'd like to live in a large extravagant place. But, millions (billions?) of people are doing just fine in much smaller places than these self interested architects are suggesting.
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#473Earlier quoted context omitted.
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, of…
It's probably better in SB than just about anywhere else, since you can quite literally always just go outside. I think that's almost part of the "point" here. To try to demotivate students from sitting in their rooms. I don't like that approach at all, but I actually don't think windowless bedrooms are the worst thing in the world. I had a windowless dorm room for a year in a very cold northeastern city where I coul…
Trying to demotivate students from sitting in their dorms by making it a sad cramped place doesn't seem to gel well with the modern idea of psychological safety helping people get more done and take more risks.
Its a stick instead of a carrot in your most personal place, your home.
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#474> an 11-story, 1.68-million-square-foot structure that would house up to 4,500 students, 94 percent of whom would not have windows in their small, single-occupancy bedrooms. > Munger maintains the small living quarters would coax residents out of their rooms and into larger common areas, where they could interact and collaborate. That seems unlikely.
I lived in a building like this at Cornell University. The building was a converted mental health asylum prior to its purchase. Tiny rooms, with tiny slit windows, common areas, and doors that automatically swung shut in every room. Every year, students did their best not to get stuck living in that building. The only ones who considered it voluntarily were the engineering students (due to proximity to the eng campus…
I'm sorry you had a bad experience in Cascadilla Hall, but this seems like a lot of exaggeration. For others who want to see what these dorms look like, you can see images of the Cascadilla rooms alongside more modern campus dorms like Mews on this page: https://conferenceservices.cornell.edu/planning/accommodatio....
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#475Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 peop…
> You're assuming those laws are adequate. This is getting toward conspiracy theory territory. It's... a building code. Yes. Yes, I tend to trust building codes that have been keeping all of us safe in our homes and offices for the better part of a century. If building codes don't work, then where are the disasters in all the other buildings? You're saying that every other building in the USA in the 20th century "jus…
That's correct. I don't appreciate your willingness to invalidate what I and others are pointing out to you.
Building codes are state and municipal level laws. There is no harmonization. There are varying degrees of compliance based on competency, actual corruption conspiracies, and budget all of which changes decade over decade, building by building.
Many other regulations and individual behaviors have helped keep people safe. The way electronics work, the way people are educated, the public service announcements, the response times, and sometimes the building materials. Some things have actually become more flammable over the years.
Regarding building codes, 98 people just died in a literal building collapse in the Miami area. Your standard, if I understand correctly, is "that was just 1, where are the city wide Chicago fires", when the counterpoint is that this collapse prompted reviews of many properties and many more structural issues have been found in just that one municipality that threaten hundreds and thousands of people.
You shouldn't trust this process. You should root for the process to work decently since the probability of a disaster is low - this is the only area we agree! the incidents aren't happening! - but you should know that this is all luck. Continual luck in a system that barely works.
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#476Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nothing conspirational about it. In the follow up to the Grenfell fire[1], my development was reviewed and the cladding in use on several buildings was found… less than ideal. The homeowner’s association is currently drafting a plan to have it replaced. This isn’t some theoretical, conspiracy-laden issue. It’s an actual problem. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire
> In the follow up to the Grenfell fire[1], my development was reviewed and the cladding in use on several buildings was found… less than ideal. Yes! And by whom was it reviewed? And what happened when they reviewed it? I'm guessing the answers are "government regulators", and "they made sure it was fixed". And now it's being fixed. You're literally citing the fact that safety regulation worked correctly as evidence.…
Which means one should not trust that new and existing buildings are safe because of the mere existence of code or that there are competent people that exist to review and report.
The safety regulation did not work because of the 71 people that died in Grenfell. What would you say if you lived there yourself "ah thats just bad luck for me"? what would you say if you lived there yourself and were one of the people that was reporting to the regulators about the problems in advance "I trust this system, I'm glad this system is based purely on trust, trust works so well, all should trust building codes because they are CODES, I like codes, they are infallible, its so cool that people exist to review the codes as well. This happens so rare due to the codes and not from simply being an uncommon occurrence that challenges building standard."
I don't really understand what your perspective here is to be honest. Not being wrong?
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#477As a previous comment pointed out this isn't the first of the Munger residence. You can read the student reviews here: https://www.veryapt.com/ApartmentReview-a7222-munger-graduat...
Munger also helped fund (though not design, AFAIK) the Munger graduate residences at Stanford (which, AFAIK, weren't hated): https://rde.stanford.edu/studenthousing/munger-graduate-resi... But a key thing at Stanford and UM is that these were graduate residences , with 1 to 1 bedroom and bath ratio, and full sized bedrooms. Not 8 undergrad pods per bathroom. [0] [0] https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2021/020361/absolutely-st…
as someone pointed out in another thread, and based on this other rendering, the bathroom-to-person ratio looks like 2 to 8
https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/dormi...
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#478Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nothing conspirational about it. In the follow up to the Grenfell fire[1], my development was reviewed and the cladding in use on several buildings was found… less than ideal. The homeowner’s association is currently drafting a plan to have it replaced. This isn’t some theoretical, conspiracy-laden issue. It’s an actual problem. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire
> In the follow up to the Grenfell fire[1], my development was reviewed and the cladding in use on several buildings was found… less than ideal. Yes! And by whom was it reviewed? And what happened when they reviewed it? I'm guessing the answers are "government regulators", and "they made sure it was fixed". And now it's being fixed. You're literally citing the fact that safety regulation worked correctly as evidence.…
"Yes! And by whom was it reviewed? And what happened when they reviewed it? I'm guessing the answers are "government regulators"
I think you misunderstood the poster - 100 people burned alive because the regulators were asleep at the wheel. That tragic disaster is the only reason his building was checked for adequacy, and it failed, along with thousands of others.
Right now there are thousands of buildings which were built and sold in breach of fire regulation, and the apartment owners are being saddled with 100% of the bill even when they own 25% of the apartment. In some cases the cost of repair exceeds the value of the property.
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#479Earlier quoted context omitted.
If anyone is interested, this is basically the first half of the speculative fiction story, "Mana" ( https://marshallbrain.com/manna1 ) which has been posted here on HN a few times.
Yea, it seems every year we are moving closer and closer to some dark mixture of Manna, Fifteen Million Merits [1] and Elysium [2], where regular people no longer serve any purpose, and are simply warehoused somewhere to keep them out of the hair of the few rich elite. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film)
I don't see automated everything becoming possible in our lifetimes, instead I see dystopian societal collapse due to climate shifts being much more likely.
Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm
#480From 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…
Yeah, but there is nothing guaranteeing that the common area amenities (rec room, multiple food options, libraries, etc.) won't be reallocated to additional dorm rooms or storage.