Archinect - News

SOM, Mithun sign on to deliver seven-building Munger Hall replacement at UCSB

2024-03-22T18:55:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Mithun have announced they are collaborating on a new student housing project for the University of California, Santa Barbara (USCB).

The two-phase project will deliver accommodations for 4,000 students by 2029, led by the new 2,140-bed San Benito complex that will be completed in time for Fall 2027 after a two-year construction.

News of what appears to be the replacement for the infamous Munger Hall comes five months after the passing of its namesake Charles Munger in November at the age of 99. (SOM has previously completed the school's San Joaquin Villages and Tenaya Towers residences in 2019.)

UCSB has been embroiled in a student housing crisis that mirrors other public university campuses in the state and has been largely exacerbated by the exclusivity of real estate and dearth of affordable developments in the surrounding community of Goleta.

This led to the controversial self-design proposal for a mostly windowless 3,500-bed dorm building ...

UCSB megadorm designer Charles Munger passes away at 99

2023-11-29T18:57:00-05:00

Charles Munger, the billionaire investor whose proposed design for a monolithic, partly windowless dormitory at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) was the subject of a public controversy that drew critical ire and the eyes of outside media, passed away yesterday at his home in California. He was 99.

Known widely as Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffet’s “right-hand man,” Munger was himself a lauded financier with a reported net worth of around $2.6 billion. His forays into architecture — which he had credited to the college experiences of his many children and grandchildren — included the late UCSB project, his own self-designed residence in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood, and another dormitory at his alma mater, the University of Michigan, that was funded largely by his personal donation of $110 million.

Image courtesy UCSB

The controversy surrounding Santa Barbara's since-canceled Munger Hall project never seemed to dampen his ambitions to see its design...

UCSB responds to controversy by replacing Munger Hall with new student housing strategy

2023-11-13T11:50:00-05:00

In late October 2023, the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) embarked on a new phase in its quest for expanded student housing. As reported by The Santa Barbara Independent, Vice Chancellor Garry MacPherson announced the selection of two architectural firms to develop housing for 3,500 students, aligning with the university's 2010 Long Range Development Plan. This announcement marked a significant departure from the controversial Munger Hall project, a plan that had been under intense scrutiny and opposition due to its design and scale. The shift towards a new design approach signals UCSB's response to the extensive feedback from students, faculty, and professionals in the field.

The saga ends just a week after Munger made a devaluing comment on the need to budget space inside dormitories. The school’s CHAMP! (Campus Housing Alternatives for Munger Hall, Please!) group had previously presented design alternatives in league with the 7,000-unit university plan before UCSB ...

Charles Munger makes devaluing comment on the architecture of windowless dorms

2023-11-07T17:25:00-05:00

Charles Munger is back in the news after some insensitive comments made over the weekend re-entered the debate over windowless dormitories and student housing scarcity nationwide.

Yahoo! Finance is reporting on comments the would-be billionaire designer of the derided and then dropped megadormitory project at the University of California, Santa Barbara had in a podcast conversation hosted by MarketWatch.

“The world of architecture is a game of trade-offs,” Munger told the outlet. “You’ve got to get used to the fact that billionaires aren’t the most popular people in our society. I’d rather be a billionaire and not be loved by everybody than not have any money.”

Munger’s cynicism is certainly evocative of many insiders’ takes on the industry in its current state. The comments also betray a troublesome societal trend regarding the mental well-being of young people, especially as it relates to college life.

A previous attempt at designing windowless student housing at the Universit...

Town over gown: Local zoning holdups could be preventing the expansion of America’s elite colleges and universities

2023-08-09T17:59:00-04:00

[The] quintessential local issue of zoning squabbles ends up generating a national scarcity of elite college admissions slots, fueling zero-sum competition and ultimately reducing America’s ability to increase global “exports” of its best-in-class high-end higher education product.

The Washington Post has a useful primer on the zoning hangnail stimying elite American higher-ed institutions from expanding their enrollment in response to societal outcries and prospective applicants' increasingly high standardized test scores.

The issue dates to the mid-1990s when municipal planning began to disfavor most top-tier institutions. Author Matthew Yglesias then goes on to argue that officials in states like Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, and Connecticut ought to curtail their parochialism in deference to the overall economic betterment of the country.

This year was supposed to offer a turning point in the delivery of student housing nationwide, according to prognosticators looking at overall decreases in enrollment. The University of California and other state systems, meanwhile, are still very much in the throes of their own deepening crises despite the sector's reputation as a "bright spot" for investors.

UCSB's new $750M student housing request could signal a turn in the Munger Hall saga

2023-08-01T18:58:00-04:00

Appearing to substantiate reports that UCSB’s controversial Munger Hall proposal has been scrapped, the university issued a formal “request for qualifications” this week for architectural firms to design a new student housing project at the same campus location previously reserved for Munger Hall.

After Santa Barbara Independent Executive Editor Nick Welsh hinted at the end of the infamous "Dormzilla" student housing plan in a scathing editorial in mid-July, UC Santa Barbara's recently published RFQ for the "construction of the UCSB Student Housing Infill and Redevelopment Project" at the cost of up to $750 million appears to confirm a sudden turning point in the history of the hotly contested and breathtakingly window-deprived Munger Hall proposal.

Want to throw your hat in the ring? Submit your design bid by 4 PM Pacific Time on August 18.

Previously on Archinect: Munger Hall update: New report outlines 'safety hazards' in megadorm's design

TenBerke announces University of Washington residence hall project with Mahlum Architects

2023-07-28T12:25:00-04:00

TenBerke has announced a new dormitory project for the University of Washington in Seattle co-led with local mainstays Mahlum Architects, a leader in green building design.

The scope of the new Haggett Hall project encompasses a 200,000-square-foot residential hall with 800 beds and a fitness center located in the North Campus neighborhood of UW, which is currently undergoing a housing-focused transformation.

The firm’s first-ever West Coast project will incorporate its surroundings on an acre-and-a-half site on the periphery of campus and a woodland area. The project will be delivered using an “integrated design-build process” with Anderson Construction as its lead contractor and using the findings of a student engagement process that began in May.

Senior Principal Arthi Krishnamoorthy says it is part of TenBerke’s push to deliver a new generation of student housing marked b...

TenBerke’s new Princeton residences blend a refined exterior with an eclectic interior

2023-05-11T14:43:00-04:00

TenBerke, formerly Deborah Berke Partners, has completed what the firm calls its “most ambitious completed work to date.” The 485,000-square-foot project comprises two new residential colleges at Princeton University, each serving 510 students.

Image credit: Chris Cooper

Image credit: Christopher Payne/Esto

The taller building, named New College West, features soft-grey metal ‘treehouses’ inspired by its woodland setting. Meanwhile, the smaller Yeh College building is described by the team as “low-slung by outward-looking.” Both buildings feature a mixture of warm grey calcium silicate brick to create a “contemporary interpretation of historic masonry on the campus.”

Image credit: Chris Cooper

The ground floor of the buildings sees wood-formed precast concrete blended with extensive glazing framed in warm white oak. Inside, public and social activities are concentrated on the ground floor, seeking to depart from what the team calls the campus’ “traditionally h...

DIALOG & Group2 selected to design $54 million mass timber student housing facility

2023-02-17T13:25:00-05:00

The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) in British Columbia has selected Canadian firms DIALOG and Group2 to design and the construction companies Clark Builders and Turner to build a six-story, CAD $73 million (USD $54 million) mass timber student housing building.

Located on the University’s Abbotsford campus, the facility will feature 398 beds, increasing on-campus student housing from 200 beds to 598.

Architect and DIALOG partner Marion LaRue said the firm aims to create a welcoming and efficient student housing building that utilizes leading techniques and materials.

The building will include lounges, shared kitchens, study rooms, and mixed-use and cultural spaces. It will also integrate passive house building certification standards.

The project will utilize the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method, which increases efficiency by engaging all parti...

Munger Hall update: New report outlines 'safety hazards' in megadorm's design

2022-12-21T14:42:00-05:00

A new independent review produced by a 13-member panel made up of faculty and community members at the University of California, Santa Barbara has outlined a host of health and safety risks inherent in the contested Munger Hall megadorm design proposal.

The report cited the need for Covid-safe ventilation techniques, safer egress routes, and the psychological toll taken on students as factors to be considered in a “robust redesign” that would follow the changes made previously in response to a torrent of community feedback. It also decried a lack of outside input early on.

“[A] majority of Panel members believes that such information could have averted the critical concerns raised by the current design,” the report stated. “Research and analysis weighed by this Panel reveal significant health and safety risks that are predictable enough, probable enough, and consequential enough that it would be unwise for UCSB to proceed without significant modifications to the design.”

Previously...

Updated Munger Hall images show two floors removed as controversial project seeks approval

2022-10-21T12:18:00-04:00

New details have emerged of the controversial Munger Hall student accommodation planned for the University of California, Santa Barbara. The updated scheme has seen two levels removed from the original design, from eleven to nine stories.

The changes come as UCSB prepares to submit an Environmental Impact Report for the development before approval is sought from the University of California Board of Regents and the California Coastal Commission.

Video footage extract courtesy of UCSB

As reported by The Daily Nexus, UCSB’s student-run newspaper, the university’s initial plan to commence construction on the project in late 2023 has now been removed. If construction were to begin in 2023, a projected 40-month construction program would see the building open in 2026.

Video footage extract courtesy of UCSB

“We do not have a target to start construction at this time,” a UCSB representative told the newspaper. “It will all depend on the ongoing process, including filing the EIR and other ne...

A group of UCSB students pitches a thorough alternative to Munger Hall

2022-06-06T17:50:00-04:00

In an amazing rebuke of their university’s purblind pursuit of the Munger Hall megadormitory project last week, students at the University of California, Santa Barbara staged a public forum in order to showcase research-based alternatives to the development and long-term strategic plan.

Led by Professor Rita Bright, a group of 43 Environmental Studies concentrators took school administrators to task with a thorough proposal that simultaneously meets the campus’ attendant student housing crisis and a host of UCSB’s other stated objectives, according to a write up by Carolina A. Miranda in the LA Times.

Previously on Archinect: Munger Hall now has a walkthrough for the skeptical

The alternative plan calls for several new smaller dorms to be erected either above existing one-story dining hall structures, or else on a site currently occupied by a parking lot. It also recommended building at a smaller scale at the proposed site of Munger Hall, which is currently a maintenance facility. Mi...

Munger Hall now has a walkthrough for the skeptical

2022-06-03T18:31:00-04:00

Not giving up is an important aspect of undergraduate learning, and the University of California, Santa Barbara is neatly reinforcing that lesson by offering a new preview of its besmirched Munger Hall megadorm project seven months following the initial public rollout.

Billionaire donor Charles Munger’s ambitious design is now offering in-person tours of mockups to students, faculty, and staff in addition to an animated video walkthrough of its record-breaking 1.68-million-square-foot interior, which is beset with outward-facing lounges and common areas to offset an otherwise “inhumane” lack of windows and natural light in the living quarters.

Photo courtesy UCSB.

The university began erecting full-scale physical mockups a few years ago with the purpose of soliciting “campus feedback,” but plans of in-person tours were pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the opportunity of walkthroughs has reemerged, the exhibition also aims at dissuading a growing chorus of skeptics t...

AIA Los Angeles joins growing opposition to controversial UCSB Munger Residence Hall

2021-12-21T12:23:00-05:00

The AIA Los Angeles chapter has issued an open letter to the President of the University of California, voicing opposition to the proposed UCSB Munger Residence Hall. The project, which has gained an intense media spotlight both within and beyond architectural spheres, would see the construction of bedrooms for 4,500 students, 94% of which would not have access to natural light.

The letter, penned by AIA LA President Mitra Memari, describes the proposal as one which will “create harmful and unhealthy living conditions for its residents,” setting a “negative precedent, literally and symbolically, for generations to come.”

“We urge UCSB to follow best design practices supported by numerous studies, and not advance the Munger Hall project further,” the letter continues. “We recommend that UCSB reconvene its design review board to re-examine best pract...

Eight former UC campus architects pen letter in an effort to stop Munger Hall

2021-12-06T19:40:00-05:00

More architects are speaking out in the controversy surrounding the planned Munger Hall development at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Santa Barbara Independent is reporting that eight architects representing several different UC campuses sent administrators a letter dated November 17 which detailed their opposition to the unanimously approved multibillion-dollar dormitory building.

“We ask that you take a step back and embrace the values of a humane environment, one that fosters health, safety, and welfare, instead of one that may forever harm generations of young students,” a portion of the group letter read, according to the Independent. “A failed investment of this size is bound to ripple throughout the University system.”

Previously on Archinect: 'A jail masquerading as a dormitory': Architect resigns from UCSB over a ludicrous, Charles Munger-designed dorm

Their letter joins a previous document from the local AIA chapter in which President Tai Yeh and others e...

AIA Santa Barbara signs open letter against “inhumane” Charlie Munger-designed/funded student accommodation

2021-11-09T10:51:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara (AIASB) has sent an open letter to the Chancellor of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in opposition to the controversial Munger Hall student residence. The letter, delivered in email format, was led by AIASB President Tai Yeh and signed by 34 individuals, most of whom are affiliated with the AIA.

The open letter, dated November 5th, was first published by Edhat Santa Barbara and sets out the AIASB’s position that the “Munger Residence Hall as proposed, does not meet [health, safety, and welfare] requirements and that there is no justifiable reason to proceed with the project as proposed.”

“Our collective response to this proposal is not a critique of style, rather this is a critique of the unacceptable, inhumane living conditions that will no doubt have a psychological impact o...

Plus sets a higher bar for student accommodations at Sydney's Moore Theological College

2021-11-08T17:41:00-05:00

A new way of living is coming to Sydney’s Moore Theological College thanks to an AUS$33 million student housing scheme from an award-winning regional firm.

Plus Architecture is behind the redevelopment of Moore’s John Chapman House, a pair of two-story buildings from the early 1950s that will soon become an expanded accommodation with a modern suite of amenities and room for about 113 residents.

Image courtesy Plus Architecture

In order to create a more affable student experience for its residents, the college asked Plus to design a dorm building that would encourage connectivity and human connection while remaining in conversation with different heritage sites and architecture in the campus area.

Image courtesy Plus Architecture

This is accomplished by a network of communal gathering spaces and “pinch points” which actively engender an almost forced kind of intramural interaction. A glass element unites the two alternatively-facing four- and six-story volumes and serves as both ...

UCSB officials release Q&A addressing Munger Hall controversy

2021-11-05T17:21:00-04:00

The swirling controversy over the University of California, Santa Barbara’s proposed plan to add billionaire real estate investor Charles Munger’s massive self-designed dormitory building to its exhausted stock of student housing has been addressed by the university in a campus-wide Q&A published yesterday in which it answered “misconceptions” about the project’s design features and doubled down on its reasoning and necessity overall.

Last week’s revelation that architect Dennis McFadden had resigned in early October after a university planning meeting resulted in a heated letter to the design review committee, making waves on our discussion board, and even landing UCSB in national news outlets in part over Munger’s deep connections with billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

University officials failed to address McFadden’s indignation over its questionable contingent approval process but were able to issue a defense of sorts in the form of a self-prompted answer sheet that claimed...

'A jail masquerading as a dormitory': Architect resigns from UCSB over a ludicrous, Charles Munger-designed dorm

2021-10-29T16:01:00-04:00

A key architect has resigned his committee membership at the University of California, Santa Barbara following its proposal of a monolithic new dormitory building that purportedly fails to provide windows for some 94% of its single-occupancy residences.

After fifteen years sitting on UCSB’s Design Review Committee, architect Dennis McFadden resigned in protest over its decision to select financier-cum-ametuer architect Charles Munger’s plan for a 1.68 million-square-foot structure that will also bear his name following a $200 million gift to the university. Munger had allegedly stipulated that his plan be followed without alteration as part of the gift. McFadden referred to the design as “unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being” in an angry letter sent to the university on October 25th.

“The building is a social and psychological experiment with an unknown impact on the lives and personal development of the undergraduates the university serves...

Louis Kahn buildings in Ahmedabad saved from demolition

2021-01-04T12:50:00-05:00

The board of governors (BoG) for Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has decided to withdraw an expression of interest (EOI) that was put out by the management last month inviting architects and designers to propose plans for demolishing dormitories in the campus built by American architect Louis Kahn and replacing them with new structures.

The school reversed its decision to demolish and replace 14 of the 18 dormitories built by Louis Kahn between 1962 until his death in 1974 following international outrage over the proposal.

A change.org petition to save Kahn’s aging IIM Ahmedabad structures has already attracted more than 15,000 signatures.

Related on Archinect: Louis Kahn's floating music barge is saved, finds home in Philadelphia. Point Counterpoint II. Image via American Wind Symphony Orchestra.

'Hobbit Revival' Enclave dormitory in Berkeley now completed

2020-09-15T18:11:00-04:00

Even with everything else going on right now, the crazed excess of the newest building on Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue is guaranteed to stop you in your tracks.

The Chronicle’s urban design critic, John King, reviews the now-completed and very much style-agnostic Enclave dormitory in Downtown Berkeley. "It's as if Harry Potter and Fred Flintstone decided to build a McMansion. On acid."

Image courtesy of LCA Architects.

"The design mimics a Moorish palace and is inspired by numerous other
muses such as Tibetan forts, Italian hill towns, and the rock-cut
façades of Petra," states the project description from LCA Architects, the architect of record.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by LCA ARCHITECTS (@lca.architects) on Aug 12, 2020 at 5:07pm PDT

The seven-story student housing project, designed by Kirk E. Peterson & Associates, first appeared on Archinect last summer.

Hobbit Revival dormitory headed to Berkeley

2019-08-09T06:09:00-04:00

A proposed dormitory block headed to Downtown Berkeley has a few people scratching their heads.

The beguiling, 254-bed student housing project, known as the Enclave and designed by Kirk E. Peterson & Associates, will bring 55 dormitory units to a site located just across from Berkeley's People's Park.

Mission Revival on top, cave dwelling on the bottom. Image courtesy of LCA Architects.

If you look only at the top three or four floors of the peculiar seven-story complex, it might be hard to notice anything out-of-hand. A series of Mission Revival-inspired faux bell towers, for example, punctuate the project's upper levels, where handsome red tile roof and blue-green tile accents round out an otherwise stucco-and-brick apartment tower.

Aerial view of Enclave. Image courtesy of LCA Architects.

The building's lower levels, however, are something else entirely. Renderings for the project depict the five-over-two-style podium building's three lower levels wrapped in what the project ...

Deborah Berke Partners completes new $19M residence hall for Dickinson College

2018-08-23T18:06:00-04:00

Ahead of the new academic year, Dickinson College has opened a new $19 million residence hall that will house 130 students. The High Street Residence Hall, the Carlisle liberal arts college's first new residence hall since 1973, is part of a $46 million campus investment plan that began in 2012. Officials said demand for on-campus housing exceeded available space, prompting the start of construction on the new residence hall last year.

Deborah Berke Partners' new dormitory for Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA is now open for the upcoming academic school year.

The 40,500 square foot building is currently targeted to be LEED Platinum, making it the first college residence hall in Pennsylvania to achieve this level if approved. The dorm features an upgraded stormwater management system with four rain gardens.

The residence hall was designed with an energy efficient roof, exterior walls, and windows. The facility connects with the colleges' central energy plant to reduce carbon emissions.

Collaborating Firms
Deborah Berke Partners – Architect and Interior Designer
Andropogon – Landscape Architect
Kohler Ronan – MEP Engineer
Steven Winter Associates – LEED/Environmental Consultant
PHT Lighting – Lighting...

Oliver Wainwright on the state of Britain's student housing: "shamefully shoddy"

2017-09-13T14:41:00-04:00

Free to ignore building standards for dwellings, student housing isn’t just ruining British cities – it’s damaging student life. As universities start back, we reveal how developers get away with it [...] Hardly a year goes by without a slab of PBSA featuring on the Carbuncle Cup shortlist for the ugliest UK building. This year it was the turn of a dismal block in Portsmouth, designed by Cooley Architects for Unite, the biggest student housing provider in the country.

Besides aesthetics, Wainwright also points out issues of affordability, government regulation, and basic building safety: the Portsmouth housing block, as well as other new Unite student accommodations, failed fire safety tests of their cladding systems in July, conducted after the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.

Kentucky students defend shared living spaces over "innovative" new dorms

2016-04-27T13:28:00-04:00

with the rise of these innovative areas, traditional-style dorms, characterized by shared bathrooms and two or more students living with one another in a single space, are becoming less frequent on campus, and will soon be discontinued altogether. [...] living in a traditional-style dorm is important, especially for first-year students, because the living arrangements allow for greater communication between residents that may not necessarily occur in the newer dorms.

Related on Archinect: