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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

#601

Post by nucleardog »

pasabagi wrote: post #572
Syzygies wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

> if our new building will have DC wiring for LED lights, rather than a cheap, inefficient transformer in every bulb, This blows my mind too. I expect it's coming, though: the cables would be cheaper, and if there's one driver of change in construction, it's cost. Another question is, would it be a straight improvement? I think transformers are typically very efficient, and I could imagine the losses from running a l…

Running DC typically requires much higher gauge wire. To keep under a 10% voltage drop (which is a _lot_), our current 15A branch circuits on 14g wire would be limited to about 10ft away from the transformer.

You could make it to ~30ft on existing wiring as long as you kept draw under 5A. That’s ~60W and enough to power all of 5 pretty anemic 12V bulbs.

If you actually need something like a 60ft run from your transformer and 15A to play with, you’re going to be looking more towards something like 6AWG. If you want to keep under 3% voltage drop you’d be looking towards 2AWG.

14AWG 2-wire is something like $0.35/ft. 6AWG 2-wire is like $0.75/ft. 2AWG 2-wire is coming up on $3/ft.

There’s a reason we use AC for power distribution rather than DC.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#602

Post by Bobylonian »

treis wrote: post #554
wpietri wrote: post #231

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…

Reading the comments feels like everyone went to college in bizarro world. The dorms I lived in always had shared bedrooms. In one 4 people across two bunk beds. Having a room to call my own in a dorm would have been an extraordinary improvement. Wouldn't have cared in the slightest bit about a window.

What I can't get from this article is price. When I was student, reason why students shared those rooms with bunk beds was mainly because that was the thing they(or rather their parents) could afford and renting proper flat was out of their capabilities. Nowadays, in the city I live in 20min distance from university my rent for flat might be cheaper than what students are paying for their dorm room(with windows).

Somehow I have a feeling, that prices for these dorms are adjusted to property rental prices(and income from renting square meter here is larger, than what you might get from flat) and those who have friends might share some place and rent together to have place with more breathing room...

PS If there are no windows - why it had to be built as tall building and not some underground hole, from where those students - lesser humans can crawl out for the time to study...

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#603

Post by accountofme »

nucleardog wrote: post #601
pasabagi wrote: post #572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if our new building will have DC wiring for LED lights, rather than a cheap, inefficient transformer in every bulb, This blows my mind too. I expect it's coming, though: the cables would be cheaper, and if there's one driver of change in construction, it's cost. Another question is, would it be a straight improvement? I think transformers are typically very efficient, and I could imagine the losses from running a l…

Running DC typically requires much higher gauge wire. To keep under a 10% voltage drop (which is a _lot_), our current 15A branch circuits on 14g wire would be limited to about 10ft away from the transformer. You could make it to ~30ft on existing wiring as long as you kept draw under 5A. That’s ~60W and enough to power all of 5 pretty anemic 12V bulbs. If you actually need something like a 60ft run from your transfo…

Is this assuming that you keep the voltage low? Say at 12V? Wouldn't we push the voltage to maximise the power pushed and minimise the resistive losses?

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#604

Post by dragonwriter »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #542
dragonwriter wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> You didn't contradict a single thing I said.

Not every response is intended to be an argument.

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

Every public entity I’ve been involved with enough to know how they address them has, private entities are more varied.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#606

Post by nuerow »

Aerroon wrote: post #531
wpietri wrote: post #231

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…

> Having building controlled heat/cooling is definitely not ideal This is going to be a bigger issue than you might think at first. No windows means that if you're too hot you can't open the window to let in cool and fresh air. You're stuck with whatever the building decides on.

> This is going to be a bigger issue than you might think at first. No windows means that if you're too hot you can't open the window to let in cool and fresh air.

Not being able to vent their living space is a major red flag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#607

Post by xg15 »

thehappypm wrote: post #449
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?

In my dorm (in Germany), we had singles I'd guess roughly 2x to 4x the size of the rooms in the plan.

Additionally, a neighboring dorm had a small conference hall in the basement, which could be used for activities.

I think a dorm should absolutely have large common areas, however they should be separated from the apartments so you can choose when to spend time there.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#608

Post by LegitShady »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #508
LegitShady wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the standard for negligence for an engineer isnt that "something bad happened", and talking about a building with foundation issues due to unstable local soil is far different than "didn't meet fire code" from the perspective of anyone who knows anything about the issues at hand. Just an FYI it's unlikely an architect designed those foundations - there were probably engineers who tested the soil and gave its properti…

All a layman knows if that he should not die in his sleep because the building caved in, you can't expect a homeowner to debate you on the exact details of structural engineering. However I can comment on the culture of negligence - and I think it's getting worse. Of course in every job, there is constant pressure from management to cut corners, junior colleagues or peers that mess up, deadlines to meet. It is very e…

> All a layman knows if that he should not die in his sleep because the building caved in, you can't expect a homeowner to debate you on the exact details of structural engineering.

If said homeowner is trying to 'score points' by pointing out things they don't themselves understand, then they don't deserve any sort of benefit of the doubt.

>However I can comment on the culture of negligence - and I think it's getting worse.

I don't think we're talking about the same thing.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#609

Post by hhhhhhhhhhnnnnn »

adolph wrote: post #243
pseudalopex wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your roommates chose to have blackout curtains. And they could choose to open them.

A student in a windowless room could choose to have a SAD lamp. https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-sad-lamps.html https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/light-therapy/ab...

Perhaps Seasonal Affective Disorder is something we should consider when designing livable, humane spaces instead of relying on an artificial substitute. Happy, healthy students are more likely to socialize — ruthlessly value engineering their private living quarters as a way of forcing socialization is the opposite approach we should be taking.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#610

Post by xg15 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #323
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…

> From my point-of-view as a former firefighter, I would say this: > A building meant to house 4500 students, with only two entrances? I would think that, you being a former firefighter, you’d know that exits (for regular use and, even more so, emergency exits ) are not the same thing as (are generally a superset of) entrances. The plans for the building [0] show 10 escape stairs with dedicated exits (including the f…

Figure 6 shows the floor plan (or see [1])

Even with emergency exits, there are a lot of interior areas that will quickly be blocked off from any exit if a fire breaks out in the wrong place.

The whole interior are will also fill with smoke really quickly.

[1] https://mobile.twitter.com/spokanerising/status/145392774727...

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