UCSB may build $200 million dorm, designed by Warren Buffett's right hand man Charlie Munger, where 94% of rooms have no windows

Proof that billionaires can be morans too.

This is the most ridiculous, ass backwards design I've ever seen. Looks like a concentration camp from North Korea. Has this idiot ever lived in a dorm? No windows? In Santa Barbara (technically Isla Vista) of all places? What a joke. Arrogance, that is what it is.

Proof that rich old white egotists want young minds to be accustomed to the drudgery of working their lives away in a cold sterile environment, free from distractions like sunlight, and forced to collaborate in cramped quarters with other similar lab rats. In effect, he is conditioning them at a young age to office life and the sort of world that billionaires want - serfs locked in rooms with nothing to do but work to enrich the billionaires.

I love Charlie. The rabbit hole of his YouTube clips provide great insight.

...and suddenly I am reminded of the old dilapidated warehouses along District Blvd. in ritzy Vernon, California lol

Also the dude is 97 years old...

Architects love glass. The problems with glass are expense and it is energy inefficient. The kids should sleep well in the building, but will need to get outside early to reset their circadian clock. That being said, no dorm or apartment I ever lived in really had a “view”, so I don’t feel too sorry for the kids. Building with no windows and donated money should keep the expense of going to college down, which is probably of greater concern for the kids. My dorm/apartment when I was in school was essentially a crash pad. I was mostly outside, at the library, at the track, gym or in class when the sun was up. Architects like to build inefficient, high dollar palaces to themselves that they can get in a architectural journal. The expense and operating costs of the building are rarely taken into account.

They don't have building codes for that?

where have you all been? cities have putting up buildings like this for decades now.

He who has the gold makes the rules. Can't be any worse than the Stata Center at MIT and that was designed by an architect, Frank Gehry.

https://www.csail.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2017-09/csail-web_168.jpg

Part of the "sell" of UCSB are the views.

Plus, a little air and light exchange through a window is good for you.

DanM wrote:

He who has the gold makes the rules. Can't be any worse than the Stata Center at MIT and that was designed by an architect, Frank Gehry.

https://www.csail.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2017-09/csail-web_168.jpg

Isn't that building really dangerous? Slabs of ice fall off of it?

UCSB doesn't have to take the building. They can kindly tell him to take a hike. I wouldn't want to live in that building and I think it is a terrible idea, but I also think UCSB should show some dignity and tell him "no thank you."

CrispyChicken wrote:

Part of the "sell" of UCSB are the views.

Plus, a little air and light exchange through a window is good for you.

Yep. This is literally the practice NYC's tenement laws were built to end. In 2021 we've apparently returned to the design concepts of late 1800s NYC slums.

Of course modern HVAC and lighting make the situation a bit better, but I still can't imagine living in a space with no natural light, especially given that you're paying $44K/yr in tuition if you're an out of state student.

Could this design be the result of cognitive decline ? Munger turns 98 in January.

anti western civ wrote:

where have you all been? cities have putting up buildings like this for decades now.

Can you provide some examples?

When I read the headlines, I thought this idea was crazy, but after getting into the details, it seems much less so.

The main issue is that this is in Santa Barbara, one of the most expensive places in the country. Nobody has come up with any alternative solution to the student housing crunch that UCSB is facing. It's basically either this, or slash enrollment by a huge amount.

The other thing that's interesting is that other than the lack of windows, everything else about the building is supposed to be on the luxury/premium end for student housing. Students will have plenty of square footage. It's far from a slum or penitentiary.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't want a window, all things being equal, but it doesn't sound awful. When I was in college, I was rarely in my dorm room during daylight hours, and even then, I usually had the shade closed for privacy because I was right next to another dorm. I also had an apartment once with no windows in the bedroom (allowable under the code as long as there were sprinklers), and it was a very cozy place to sleep.