97-year-old billionaire and amateur-architect designs a nearly windowless mega-dormitory for 4500 students

The window might need a warning sign about cancer risks, but yeah.

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I would think building codes, fire codes, liability insurance carriers, etc… would put the screws to this before the first shovel is turned.

Or they should factor in major cost overruns once they finally do get around to inspecting and start making major changes.

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97 year old is a visionary he knows the youth must be prepared for the light-less cramped conditions necessary in the underground mole cities (for those who stay behind) or the ark ships (for those who will seek new worlds) because this one is doomed.

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angry 30 rock GIF

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His son, Barry Munger, is a photographer so I’m surprised Charlie hasn’t learned anything about light. Pity.

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I think the way the suite is laid out, it’s supposed to be two bathrooms (mirrored, so we can’t see the second toilet, sink or shower).

So that in mind:
Four strangers sharing a toilet?

Also, two of those bedrooms open immediately onto the kitchenette. And the communal table in the center makes the space impassible when the chairs move away from the table at all. I’d expect half the students to just throw it out the window except, well, clearly.

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Correct.

I work in one of the 50+ CA county assessor’s offices, and we don’t consider it a legal bedroom without the window. You can call it whatever you like, but to us it’s not a bedroom…

This won’t pass plan check stage by the building department (unless money says otherwise)…

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I say we call it the Triangle Shirtwaist Dormitory.

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The design apparently does have a large number of (emergency?) exits directly from the stairwells despite having only two entrances. Having very few entrances to large buildings with exit only doors to meet firecode is an unfortunate 21st century architectural trend that probalby can’t really be blamed on Munger even if he carries it pretty far. I’m assuming this is post-columbine post-9/11 security BS. I don’t know if the # of exist it is enough or if the existing regulations adequately capture the needs of evacuating 4500 people from such a densely packed cubical building, but I’m sure it meets fire code rules as written or the people upset would have been able to put a stop to it trivially.

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This is sort of Munger’s thing. Check out the [Munger Graduate Residences at University of Michigan. There is a good reddit discussion of it from a year ago on /r/floorplans.

This one seems like a stripped down one which eliminates private bathrooms. As I remember Munger is a bit of a would be visionary who imagined the one in Michigan to be a place where people of various disciplines interacted. From YouTube tours and comments it seems that it didn’t happen. No one can know his motives but perhaps he thought that if he could make people share a bathroom he could get the cross disciplinary fertilization he craves.

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luxury

At least as a grad student I got some office space (cube than an open office plan). As a part-timer I get literally nothing.

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Well, I was off by a lot!!

I don’t think that part is especially unusual in dormitory settings. They aren’t apartments. Many traditional American dorms have two beds in each room and a communal bathroom down the hall or in the middle of the building.

Something like this is quite common:

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Oh, better still!

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Ewwww

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Trainee submariners, ships engineers and miners would be students then? Get them used to close quarters living in windowless working environments.

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The hall of those who munge.

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I think that Charles Munger is the real life equivalent of Ivo Shandor.

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I’ve seen this layout before… let’s just add a sink, a toilet and an actual window annnnd:

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In California, are State universities exempt from municipal building plan reviews? They are in Michigan. Fortunately, my nearby Big 10 uni has a robust life safety division that would flat out deny plans for a building like this. The reagents won’t approve construction if less than all departments have approved. Hoping CA’s universities are set up similarly.

[edt to add a response] @Wayne_Thomas: Munger underwent major renovations several years ago, I don’t know what all they did, but I’m betting it was an attempt to mitigate some of the uselessness of the old man’s “design”.

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