“A Zoom forum on land use and development is not generally the sort of thing I’d recommend for anyone in search of gripping screen time. But a presentation this week led by students at UC Santa Barbara was not only informative; it was also something to revel in.
“The topic at hand? Munger Hall, a.k.a. ‘Dormzilla,’ the warehouse-sized dormitory proposed (and designed) by billionaire non-architect Charlie Munger . . .”
Thus begins Carolina A. Miranda’s incisive report (4 June 2022) on the latest episode in the drama of this controversial project, which has been denounced by AIA California, AIA Santa Barbara, and eight former UC campus architects.
The Zoom forum presents the work of a panel of students from an Advanced Environmental Planning class who spent an academic quarter evaluating the Munger Hall project and drafting their own alternative master plan — one that, as Miranda writes, “met a dozen objectives, including housing 50% of the university’s student population and maintaining the aesthetic feel of the campus.”
Read Carolina Miranda’s report here.
