“Absolutely amazing” is how the University of California at Santa Barbara described the design of Munger Hall, a huge residence for more than 4,500 students that was designed by Charlie Munger, a billionaire and executive at investor Berkshire Hathaway.
But Dennis McFadden, an architect who was a consultant on the design review committee, didn’t agree. On Oct. 24, in a scathing letter to the commission’s chairmanship, he announced that he was resigning over the decision to pass a project he likened to “a social and psychological experiment.”
He said he was “disturbed” by the project that will squeeze students into an 11-story, 158,000-square-meter building and make the vast majority of them live in small, windowless rooms, “totally reliant on artificial light and mechanical ventilation.”
“In the nearly 15 years I’ve served as the commission’s consulting architect, no project presented has been bigger, more transformational, and potentially more destructive to the campus than a place like Munger Hall,” McFadden wrote in the letter. “The basic concept of Munger Hall as a place for students to live is untenable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being.”
McFadden’s resignation came after an Oct. 5 committee meeting on the bill, which the university approved as it faced a housing shortage so severe that students had to be placed in hotels. On its website, the institution says that Munger Hall will create “better and more affordable” housing, “with beauty and elegance”. In a statement, Andrea Estrada, a spokeswoman for the university, said the design and project were progressing “as planned”.
Estrada said the plan is a collaboration between the university, Munger and architects at VTBS Architects and that it will reduce the number of students who have to live off campus.
The spokeswoman also said that the project is in line with the way the university develops its housing projects, “to provide affordable housing on campus that reduces energy consumption”.
Estrada did not mention McFadden’s specific concerns. “We are grateful for McFadden’s input and insights during his tenure as an adviser-adviser,” he said.
In an interview, Munger, 97, sneered at the criticisms and said he saw them as nothing more than typical architect whining. “I’m not at all surprised that someone looked up and said, ‘What the hell is going on here?'” he said. “What’s happening is this is going to work better than any other practical alternative.” Munger, who is not an architect, said he worked with architects on the project.
The design is similar to dorms he helped design at the University of Michigan, in that the units also have no windows, and students have their own rooms.
Unlike those residences, Munger said, dorms in Santa Barbara will have “virtual windows”: students will be able to manipulate with a knob the amount of artificial light they want in the rooms to mimic daytime or nighttime lighting.
Artificial windows with LED lamps that mimic natural light have already been used in closed spaces, small apartments and basements. “If you want soft, romantic lighting, you can have it,” said Munger. “When in your life could you change the sun? In this dorm, you can.”
He added: “These little rooms are a very happy place.” The idea of ​​virtual windows was inspired by the artificial windows of cabins on Disney cruise ships. “But mine are better.”
Other parts of the building, especially common areas such as the gym, a multipurpose room and a study room, will have windows opening to the outside. In his letter, McFadden said that indoor environments with access to natural light and nature improve people’s physical and mental well-being.
“Munger Hall ignores this evidence and seems to take the position that it doesn’t matter,” said the architect. The “unprecedented” density and scale of the project is also out of step with the character of the campus, which sits on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, wrote McFadden.
The architect, project director at Leo A Daly, declined to comment on the case. He confirmed that he wrote the letter announcing his resignation, but said it was leaked and should not have been published.
Critics and architecture students showed up to support McFadden. One student said he was opposed to the project because of the height of the building and the lack of windows, according to a transcript of public comments recorded during a meeting in July on the proposal. “Young people don’t always smell good,” he wrote. “Fresh air is incredibly important for college students.”
Another student compared the rooms to solitary confinement units. “You are wanting the students to get depressed and hurt themselves,” he wrote. “Reconsider this whole project.”
Paul Goldberger, architecture critic at The New Yorker magazine, said the concept shows “how far UCSB has fallen since the time it had architects like Charles Moore.” “This project is a grotesque, sick joke — a prison disguised as a dormitory,” he said on Twitter, with a link to a report by The Santa Barbara Independent. “No, projects are not for billionaire donors.”
Munger Hall is expected to cost more than $1 billion (BRL 5.6 billion) and will be financed in part by Munger. It is due to open in 2025. Munger, an old friend and partner of Warren Buffett, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said he consulted with several architects and other professionals.
McFadden “maybe wasn’t consulted, but a lot of other people were,” Munger said. “This isn’t something done by a freak alone in a room.”
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