Amateur architect and billionaire Charlie Munger is under fire over his design for a new dorm at the University of California at Santa Barbara that is planned to house 4500 students in tiny windowless cells with no natural light or fresh air.
Literally. We mean all of that literally:
"There is dumb. There is dumber. And then there is whatever is happening at UC Santa Barbara in the planning and design of a new student dorm," writes @cmonstah https://t.co/8YnuzyKdaJ
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 1, 2021
The dorm — Munger Hall — is being called a “transformational project to address the campus’s great need for more student housing”:
In July, the UCSB Current outlined plans for Munger Hall, a transformational project to address the campus's great need for more student housing. Learn more about the accommodations, amenities, and overall residential experience: https://t.co/ZcUfe2NhfK pic.twitter.com/4iQBkR8Gjh
— UC Santa Barbara (@ucsantabarbara) October 30, 2021
Munger calls the design, “ship architecture on land”:
Munger has characterized the design as “our version of ship architecture on land” for its efficient use of space and for being all-inclusive — nearly everything a resident could want or need is available on site. He has said his primary goal for the building is that it ultimately be “so much better than normal that it will become widely admired as among the best.”
Munger reportedly donated $200 million for the project under the condition that his design is used without any changes:
“”Munger Hall, in comparison, is a single block housing 4,500 students with two entrances,” McFadden said, and would qualify as the eighth densest neighborhood on the planet, falling just short of Dhaka, Bangladesh.” https://t.co/vXyZPngAMY
— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) October 29, 2021
Who would stay here? “94% of the units do not have access to natural light or fresh air”:
The back story: UCSB is grappling with a student housing crunch. The proposed solution? Stuff more than 4,500 students into a warehouse-size building in which the about 94% of the units do not have access to natural light or fresh air. https://t.co/8YnuzyKdaJ
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 1, 2021
Munger, throwing gasoline on the fire, said in response to the criticism that he’d “rather be a billionaire and not be loved by everybody than not have money”:
“I’d rather be a billionaire and not be loved by everybody than not have any money.”
Unreal quote from Charlie Munger in response to criticism about a dorm he designed for UCSB that would leave 94% of students without windows. pic.twitter.com/leiGgQlTph
— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) November 1, 2021
One of the consulting architects on the project has already quit in protest:
“A consulting architect on UCSB’s Design Review Committee has quit his post in protest over the university’s proposed Munger Hall project, calling the massive, mostly-windowless dormitory plan “unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being.”” https://t.co/4yNkK9gc9F
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) October 29, 2021
Here’s a photo of one of the 8-room suites that looks to have one toilet and one shower and a common area that only includes a dining room table:
https://twitter.com/GPollowitz/status/1454989266799497222
For comparison purposes, here is Munger’s dorm room compared to a cell in a Norwegian prison:
(left) A room in Munger Hall vs.
(right) A cell in a Norwegian prison pic.twitter.com/eHoNIw5WBX— Casey Ho (@CaseyHo) October 29, 2021
Others are comparing it to the fictional dorms in Netflix’s “Squid Game”:
Ucsb students waking up in the morning at munger hall pic.twitter.com/3sTmIprQzS
— drew$ki (@androoskio) October 29, 2021
On the bright side, there is plenty of surfboard storage in the mega-dorm:
just saw how big the surfboard room is at munger hall and now im a convert pic.twitter.com/9TOPKoQXcV
— Parker Higgins (@xor) October 30, 2021
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