UC Santa Barbara's proposed "dormzilla"

[jtbell]

Would you want to live in a dormitory that houses 4500 students and has almost no windows? That's what UCSB is planning, thanks to a gift from billionaire Charlie Munger. A key condition on his gift is that they have to use his design.

Architect Resigns in Protest over UCSB Mega-Dorm (Santa Barbara Independent)

Warren Buffett's billionaire partner bankrolls windowless dorm. An architect quit (CNN.com)

 

[kyphysics]

4500 is a lot of people for a dorm!

no windows makes it even worse

 

[Rive]

Just some random thoughts.

We have experiences of this kind of population density (an we know where it tends to converge) so as a social experiment, it's just moot.

A fire alarm there would be a nightmare.

Since it's a dorm, the expected amortization is high.
Within ten years it'll look so that you would want to burn it down.

 

[Astronuc]

almost no windows

I've seem images of windows on the peripheral rooms, so ostensibly, those willing to pay more will get windows. Personally, I'd find a different environment.

 

[jtbell]

I've seem images of windows on the peripheral rooms, so ostensibly, those willing to pay more will get windows.

One of the linked articles says 94% of the residents will be windowless, so 6% = 270 will get windows. That would be equvalent to a large dorm at the small college where I went to school, and at the two where I've taught. Of course, Big State U's are a different world.

 

[gmax137]

Ick. Why would anyone choose such a monstrosity? If built, my bet is that it will be torn down in ten years.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I think it's great for housing prospective submariners. Needs fewer windows and more bunks, though.

 

[gmax137]

I think it's great for housing prospective submariners. Needs fewer windows and more bunks, though.

I was thinking prospective cube-workers. Or generational starship passengers.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Given how pretty Santa Barbara is, a windowless dorm room would be a crime!

 

[vela]

Maybe they're testing out designs for the next generation of prisons.

 

[jtbell]

Given how pretty Santa Barbara is, a windowless dorm room would be a crime!

But the weather is sooo great in California, surely everyone wants to be outdoors anyway. Except to sleep... but I hear a lot of people do sleep outdoors...

 

[Ygggdrasil]

but I hear a lot of people do sleep outdoors...

That's more an issue of housing prices than weather.

 

[russ_watters]

I think it's great for housing prospective submariners. Needs fewer windows and more bunks, though.

Maybe if they had more windows they wouldn't keep flying into mountains?
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/04/asia...-undersea-mountain-hnk-intl-ml-dst/index.html

 

[Tom.G]

Just preparing students for the available future housing in California.

Definition of troglodyte​

1: a member of any of various peoples (as in antiquity) who lived or were reputed to live chiefly in caves

2: a person characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes

(from: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/troglodyte)

 

[ergospherical]

No doubt a callous design. In some ways it reminds me of the idea for an "Earth'scraper" in Mexico City, where available plots of land are in short supply, which was floated a few years back.

 

[BillTre]

In some ways it reminds me of the idea for an "Earth'scraper" in Mexico City

Looks to me like an underground building (picture lacks legibility).

I see problems for this design:
Building underground is expensive.
I would bet there is a high water table in Mexico city (parts of it used to be a lake). Deeper parts would have to withstand a lot of water pressure.
Burials in some areas around New Orleans are above ground in cement coffins because a buried wood coffin can pop up out of saturated ground after being buried.

 

[vela]

I just got a link to this article from the alumni association.

https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2021/020455/munger-hall-qa

 

[Klystron]

I have not lived in Santa Barbara since 1968 but would prefer life in Isla Vista over a campus dormitory.