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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

#691

Post by 8bitsrule »

While I was home from college, one summer night I noticed a two-story downtown building (with low-rent apartments upstairs) had a fire on the ground floor. The firetruck arrived within minutes. A few minutes later a fireman brought the body of a 13-yo boy downstairs from the second floor. He was laid out on the ground.

No sprinkler system on any floor. The second floor had one fire escape, but it probably wouldn't have helped - the youngster was completely unburned but dead of smoke asphyxiation. Never to be forgotten.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#692

Post by treis »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #689
wpietri wrote: post #683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For you, perhaps. And maybe I would have said the same thing in college, when I paid approximately zero attention to my health. But I learned in the years since that light levels make a huge difference. A room like that could easily have pushed me into severe "seasonal" depression.

Exactly. These days, I know that the pain of 3 obnoxious "same-room" roommates may still be worth the price vs sunlight, which will dramatically affect my overall mood. I can easily complain about the roommates, but the light will have a greater real effect on my mood.

But you're not confined to your room during the daylight. There's plenty of common spaces to go to that have windows.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#693

Post by comrh »

asiachick wrote: post #472
comrh wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's not really how architecture works. There is a client supplied budget and site that multiple architecture firms submit proposals for. Suggesting a needlessly large and expensive building will do nothing but leave you without any work.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#694

Post by accountofme »

nucleardog wrote: post #647
accountofme wrote: post #603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The comment about powering a few anemic lightbulbs on 60W was assuming 12V, but otherwise it's all pretty independent of voltage. You could get the current 1800W of energy out of a branch circuit with 15A at 120VDC and all the limitations/massive wires I described. If you wanted to run 1800W DC as we run current power (14/2, hundred foot+ runs, etc) you'd be looking at something like 720VDC at a couple amps. There's…

Ohms law plays a big part in all this. Resistive losses are governed by the square of current multiplied by the resistance of the wire. As such running higher voltages minimises these losses. We use this all the time with our power transmission lines which generally run at 500kV AC if I recall correctly.

1. Safety is relative. 10-20mA is enough to kill a person. In AC voltage we measure it as root mean square, the actual peak to peak voltage is greater than Double that.

2. There are such things as solid state switching. Solid state relays and field effect transistors come to mind. This is also how we down convert DC power to lower voltages, very fast switching giving an average voltage that is the target (see buck converters).

3. DC power is everywhere and it is easy to do DC to DC conversion. Single chip solutions exist. Hell your car is entirely 12V (if ice powered, EV's are a different matter)

Hope that helps :)

I

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#695

Post by pbronez »

nuerow wrote: post #606
Aerroon wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Looks like that's actually been accounted for directly:

"[The building] will provide built-in social distancing as required by COVID. Fresh air, the architect insisted, will be vented into all rooms at twice the rate mandated by existing building codes and will be off-gassed directly to the atmosphere without any transfer to other rooms in the dorm."

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#696

Post by pbronez »

wpietri wrote: post #231
graeme wrote: 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…

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…

They claim to address health effects of light with dynamic "virtual windows." I agree it would be useful to study how well this works. If nothing else, it would inform how we design long haul spacecraft eventually...

“All virtual windows will have a fully programmed circadian rhythm control system to substantially reflect the lighting levels and color temperature of natural daylight,” according to the statement. All common areas, the statement added, “have significant access to natural light.”

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#697

Post by pbronez »

Syzygies wrote: post #440
graeme wrote: 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.…

> Munger Hall could dodge all the bad publicity about fake windows if it sports a "next pandemic ready" ventilation system out of the blocks.

Apparently it will:

"[The building] will provide built-in social distancing as required by COVID. Fresh air, the architect insisted, will be vented into all rooms at twice the rate mandated by existing building codes and will be off-gassed directly to the atmosphere without any transfer to other rooms in the dorm."

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#698

Post by raxxorrax »

graeme wrote: 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…

What if someone snores?

edit: apparently it isn't about hundreds of students sharing one room.

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#699

Post by concerned-CAian »

I’m concerned about only 2 ports of access to ingress and egress. What happens in a fire? What about when the inevitable earthquake hits? Think mass casualty on the order of the triangle shirtwaist factory or the surf side collapse. In any case, how long are we going to let idiot sociopathic billionaires run/ruin our lives, and that of our vulnerable children?

Re: Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm

#700

Post by concerned-CAian »

concerned-CAian wrote: post #699

I’m concerned about only 2 ports of access to ingress and egress. What happens in a fire? What about when the inevitable earthquake hits? Think mass casualty on the order of the triangle shirtwaist factory or the surf side collapse. In any case, how long are we going to let idiot sociopathic billionaires run/ruin our lives, and that of our vulnerable children?

Also, if you’re concerned, don’t just yell into this or any other void. Call the office of the Governor—he’s a UC Regent who is SUPPOSED to be looking out for the best interests of UC students, the lieutenant governor’s office, and your state assembly person.
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