Is ‘dormzilla’ the solution to California’s housing crisis?
In the blueprint for new student digs Munger Hall, almost all the 4,500 residents sleep in windowless cells
“What does it take to make architecture go viral?” The answer, said Carolina A. Miranda in the Los Angeles Times, is a blueprint for a vast, 11-storey student dormitory in which almost all the 4,500 residents sleep in windowless cells.
That’s what the University of California, Santa Barbara, is about to build to help solve its student housing shortage. It’s the brainchild of Charles Munger, a 97-year-old billionaire with no architectural training, who is donating $200m to the university on the condition that it uses his design. Rooms will have LED screens to mimic sunlight – an idea inspired by the virtual portholes on Disney cruise ships – and air piped in.
Critics point out that natural light and fresh air are so psychologically vital that they’re even staples of basic jail design. Their objections have been ignored by university leaders and by Munger, who told an interviewer: “I expect these buildings to sprout up all over America.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Munger Hall – dubbed “Dormzilla” by critics – will look and feel like “a self-storage warehouse”, said Henry Grabar on Slate (New York), but UC Santa Barbara will take it because it’s in “desperate, desperate need of new housing”.
In idyllic Santa Barbara, as in much of California, property is incredibly expensive, with average house prices exceeding $1m. Local zoning laws ban or severely restrict new apartment construction. As a result, students have been bunking in hotels and even sleeping in their cars. It might be better for students to have no windows than to spend nights at the Marriott or on the back seat of a Hyundai.
For student housing, “Dormzilla is fine”, said M. Nolan Gray on Bloomberg (New York). The spartan single rooms are designed only for sleeping, and Munger’s design provides ample, airy communal spaces for study, dining and recreation, “to coax students out of their rooms and into the community”.
“Perhaps it’s utopian of me,” said Aaron Gordon on Vice (New York), but I think we can solve housing shortages without stuffing students into windowless cells. Architects and engineers are armed with a mass of research that suggests Munger’s design is “both unhealthy and unsafe”. Imagine a fire or a blackout in a darkened building with 4,500 students trying to flee through two main exits. Once again, we’re seeing proof that “in order to solve one crisis, we are often all too willing to create others”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Nigeria's worsening rate of maternal mortality
Under the radar Economic crisis is making hospitals unaffordable, with women increasingly not receiving the care they need
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Elevating Earth Day into a national holiday is not radical — it's practical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
UAW scores historic win in South at VW plant
Speed Read Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers union
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of cabaret performer
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published
-
Woman reunited with egg she signed in 1951
It Wasn't All Bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published
-
American rescued after 12 days in Turkish cave
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ukrainian military has ‘shown how the Russian army can be beaten’
Talking Point Recent Ukrainian frontline advances may offer hope for its counter-offensive
By The Week Staff Published
-
Would North Korean weapons tilt the war Russia’s way?
Today's Big Question Putin wants to boost ‘depleted stocks’ but Pyongyang’s arms may be in poor condition
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
What went wrong with the German economy?
Today's Big Question ‘Deep-rooted’ and ‘knotty’ problems threaten return of ‘sick man’ label
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Why are so many local councils on the brink of bankruptcy?
Today's Big Question Inflation, underfunding and growing demand for services has put pressure on local authorities at the worst time
By Arion McNicoll Published
-
Robotyne: does liberated village signal success of Ukraine counter-offensive?
Today's Big Question Russia deploys crack paratroopers to try to stall key Ukrainian advances
By Arion McNicoll Published