Campus controversy over giant dorm at UC Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Officials at the University of California Santa Barbara are responding to criticism about a new dormitory under construction that has prompted some students to create petitions asking for the entire project to be shut down.

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The proposed dorm, Munger Hall, would house approximately 4,500 students and stand 11 stories high. The building’s design, however, is so controversial that one of the consulting architects on the project has publicly resigned.

The blueprints show more than 90% of the resident rooms in the dorm will not have any windows or natural light, or any way for natural air to get in. Instead, the rooms will have fake windows that offer soft lighting.

Munger Hall will be named for billionaire Charlie Munger, who is investing $200 million into the project and designed the building himself, despite having no formal training in architecture. In an interview with the Washington Post, Munger said he is responsible for building successful buildings on the campuses of Stanford and the University of Michigan. “On any big project, you can’t get any two architects to agree on anything. There’s always going to be some criticism,” Munger told the Post.

A petition online started by students at UC Santa Barbara is asking for construction to stop on the building.

The university has responded by posting more information about the project, explaining that by reducing the number of windows in the building, it will be able to house substantially more students.

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