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 ...