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Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

independent.com

541–550 of 700 posts

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does UCSB admit so many students it obviously can't support? That seems to be a big issue. I saw it happen when I was at Purdue too. They started putting bunkbeds in the _public_ dorm lobby because they couldn't support all the students they admitted. Its ridiculous that universities are doing this to their students.

I think part of it could be the 9% guarantee[1] which mandates that the top 9% of California high school students be offered a place at at least one UC. [1]: https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requi...

If that was the problem then the UCs could just cut down their international student admissions to compensate. No, the problem is that the UC system as an organization is fundamentally broken, corrupt to the bone, and has all but lost sight of their intended purpose of creating and proliferating knowledge.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In emergencies, people tend to head to the exits they're aware of.

> In emergencies, people tend to head to the exits they're aware of. Signage, lighting, and periodic drill requirements exist (among other reasons) so that people will be aware of emergency exits.

You didn't contradict a single thing I said.

Drill requirements in particular are utter jokes. Nobody pays any attention to them.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, some of the quotes here: "Good luck surviving seasonal depression or maintaining your slowly failing eyesight, especially during a pandemic and you should not be spending long periods in common spaces, when 95% of the rooms in Munger have NO WINDOW" "It can be a huge problem for people to live in because normally people would feel very uncomfortable living in a room without windows, and you don't even have a saf…

You're really misrepresenting the information from the link. Munger is the top-rated residence in the area. https://www.veryapt.com/Apartments-L7646-ann-arbor-central-c...

> Munger is the top-rated residence in the area.

Does this mean Munger is great or that every other sizeable offering in the area is even worse?

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#545
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.

> Design life for buildings is under 50 years and 100-year pandemics are somewhat less frequent?

Mankind has been designing and living in buildings for far longer than 50 years. Supposedly the US has a lot of experience designing and building prisons, which have far more stringent requirements than university dorms, and clearly these lessons have been learned long ago.

But just not by Munger, who apparently is militantly against any feedback from any architect.

We can't feign ignorance. Bad design is bad design.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious - reading this makes me depressed at how stupid HN and reactionary HN seems to have become. Do people not realize that in California we build residential buildings that are MANY MANY stories tall. The LACK of operable windows in a bedroom is generally a REQUIREMENT on a skyscraper / residential condo tower for safety reasons. They worry about kids falling out etc. The safety plans involve other measures -…

> The LACK of operable windows in a bedroom is generally a REQUIREMENT on a skyscraper / residential condo tower for safety reasons. They worry about kids falling out etc. Can you explain more on this point? Because tall buildings not having windows that open because children might fall out of them sounds completely ridiculous to me. Some of the Soviet commie blocks were 16 storeys tall and obviously the windows can…

Sure.

One issue is that for tall buildings a fair bit of thought goes into things like aerodynamics of overall building, ventilation / HVAC control, and internal pressures.

A tall building has an issue with its core / utilities usually, the taller the go generally the worse the ratio of non-livable space to livable. So things that mess with for example HVAC efficiency may be seen as a negative.

If everyone opens a window on one side of a building, over building surface areas and wind speeds at heights, you can get pretty crazy pressure issues. You can also get aero issues. You an also run into HVAC issues (ie, volume of air from 3 open large windows on the 40th floor may overwhelm HVAC system capacity).

Let me ask you, you are building a skyscraper to rent.

If you allow folks to open their windows and the wind blows something out that kills someone on the street - who will be sued? If someone drops something out (trying to put a plant in window or stick a telescope out) and kills someone - who pays. If someone falls out that window, who will be sued (see a cruise line that had a stupid idiot hold a kid through the window and drop them).

Other issues are around maintenance and weather proofing etc etc. Again, environment at height can often be harsh, and now you may have to have someone on side of building to replace a window or related mechanisms. Easy in a house at ground level, a pain at height.

BTW - I like windows that open and would NOT live in a tall res condo. My key point was that all the folks talking about how window exists are required - it's so weird seeing people speak with such certainty on something so easily disprovable.

I think up to 30 floors or so and older places it was common for windows to open (they were also built differently, more open space / daylighting / shallower footprints (ie, H shape buildings vs full block buildings).

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#548
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…

There were cholera epidemics in the 19th century, until we realized we shouldn't drink contaminated water. In cities such as London, this required major infrastructure investments. We're just realizing we shouldn't breathe contaminated air, and we're just realizing that we need to make infrastructure investments. CO2 is a good proxy for infectious disease transmission risk. We breathe out CO2 as we spread pathogens.…

> just realizing we shouldn't breathe contaminated air

Well....

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

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These 4500 kids in their sardine rooms will have multiple food options, probably several gyms, rec rooms, libraries, etc... all "down the hall". No better way to get kids prepared for what comes ahead in their adulthood, huh?

To be fair, that sounds like any of the cookie cutter "luxury" apartment complexes I see coming up all over the place, right down to the inability to see anything other than your neighbors out the window.

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