Munger Hall Dorm: A Billionaire's Bizarre Social Experiment

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WTYP's episode covering Munger Hall: • Well There's Your Prob...
The discussion panel with UC Santa Barbara students: • 6/1/22 Forum on UCSB M...
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[@AdamSomething]

Go to ground.news/adam to stay fully informed on breaking news, compare coverage and avoid media bias. Sign up for free or subscribe for unlimited access if you support the mission and find it as useful as I do.

[@alaeriia01]

I feel like the point is to remind college students that they are expendable.

[@gorsedh]

adam can you do a video with your opinions on the latest mark rober video on drones?

[@deismaccountant]

This video premiered minutes ago. How is this comment dated hours ago?!???

[@torzsmokus]

@@deismaccountant the owner of the channel can comment _their own_ unreleased video. they can even send it out to others

[@gorsedh]

@@deismaccountant early access for patreons (and obviously the publisher)(?)

[@HyraxAttax]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the massive fire hazard of having only two entrances for the majority of residents in the entire building.

[@the.abhiram.r]

it's another triangle shirtwaist factory just waiting to happen

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

I’m actually kinda surprised by that, I’m not even sure if that’s gonna work, aren’t there a ton of fire codes preventing stuff like this?

[@libbybollinger5901]

From my understanding, there’s a bunch of emergency exits, that aren’t normally accessible. Still, even if ppl are able to find those in an emergency, even though they don’t typically use them, that’s gonna be such a bottleneck in non-emergencies.

[@HyraxAttax]

From what I remember when I saw the plans back when this came out, there were other emergency exits, but they were all around areas where staff and administration was located.

[@MagicJuggler]

UC Santa Barbecue

[@NoFuqinIdea]

The fact that bosses of companies with open plan offices ALWAYS WITHOUT EXCEPTION have their private rooms, spereated from "the mob", tells you all you need to know about how "nice" these things are to work in.

[@NameyNames]

Exactly. I've never seen nor heard of a single exception to this.

[@passiveaggressivenegotiato8087]

Bosses always had corner offices, and peons sit at desk in open rooms. Then along came the high wall cubicles of the 1970s/80s which is what every modern boss hates.

[@tgypoi]

I used to work in an office where there were waist high partitions around the regular people, and head high partitions around the managers. Even the director was in a cube, so I respected that, even if the office was really the worst of both worlds.

[@NankitaBR]

I personally am happy that half of my 6 people office space is shared with people from another company in my company's umbrella and they work mostly on home office and practically never come to the office. So even if my company hires another person that is desperately needed in our shop we will still only have 3 people in it on 99% of the time. It is a blessing after working on the check-in of a cruise line and in a hotel reception desk!

[@orys]

​ @Name Nameson I did worked in a medium size company, half way between overgrown family business and big corporation. There were some offices for bosses which they used to meet clients and whatnot, but it was much less than actual members of management team, so even the top managers were sitting with us in an open offices (which were small, as the building was old, so there was usually like 15-20 people to the room max). The days when I was sitting in the room where the top brass was sitting too was really awkward for both of us, as they were under scrutiny from their workers so they had to pretend they are doing some important work, and we, sitting next to the top boss, also had to pretend we are working even when there was nothing to do. Worst 2 months of my working life.

[@unrelatedshark]

The sheer fact that the statement "seeing the outdoors from your room is a luxury" applies to this is a sign we're headed towards a dystopian future

[@caseycooper5615]

The Florence Supermax prison in Colorado at least has windows, albeit little slits. It's sad when your design makes a supermax prison seem like the Taj Mahal. However, I wouldn't call Munger Hall dystopia. It's much worse.

[@lonestarr1490]

@@caseycooper5615 The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum.

[@sjbrooksy45]

The Future is now.

[@idontcarewhy]

@@sjbrooksy45 by definition it actually isn’t. I think you meant so say ‘the present is now’

[@alex29443]

I have to say, I enjoy my open plan office, I can see the pitfalls, but there are real upsides.

[@quitpayload]

"'Unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being" -Dennis McFadden. An actual architect who who reviewed the proposal for Munger Hall as part of the UC Design Review Committee. He later resigned from the committee in protest of the building

[@TheRealE.B.]

Gotta love how being a billionaire makes people take you seriously, even if you're at an age when most people have regressed to being glorified toddlers who need constant adult supervision.

[@appropriate-channelname3049]

Thats because most people end up frying their brains on TV alcohol and variety of other vices. Dude is second in command for one of the biggest capital funds in the world.

[@torzsmokus]

if you are a for profit institution, you probably cannot afford not to take any donation seriously, I guess

[@wellwell7950]

Seriously

[@lwiasyl]

In the musical "Fiddler on the roof" Tevye in his famous song "If I were a rich man" sings that: The most important men in town would come to fawn on me They would ask me to advise them like a Solomon the Wise" [...] And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong When you're rich, they think you really know" nothing's changed 😆

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@appropriate-channelname3049 lol

[@TheZombifiedGuy]

Fun(?) fact: the dorm building I lived in during my sophomore year of college was actually designed by a prison architect. The most obvious sign of this was that the main hall/entry lobby had clear sight lines down all three hallways on both floors, so theoretically someone could monitor everything from one spot. Yet even the prison architect made sure the dorms had fucking windows. This thing is a monstrosity.

[@alexyuu952]

well to be fair the prison architect is still a real architect. Better to hire a specialist than "lol he's rich and will pay for smth"

[@mr.paperbag771]

Imagine living in more horrible conditions than the average prisoner, and jails are designed to demoralise!

[@7PhoenixAshes]

Jester Hall at UT Austin? The prison-inspo achitecture in that dorm was really apparent. Narrow rooms with built-in beds along the walls and suspiciously-narrow windows to boot.

[@ashleyhathaway8548]

Orchard Hill at UMass?

[@Cynbel_Terreus]

Ah yes the classic Panopticon

[@nialltracey2599]

What really surprised me about that wasn't any of the things you mentioned, but the one thing that you didn't: most of the world makes it *strictly illegal* to shove beds in a room with no window. If you don't have two exits in the event of a fire.... well, I think the imagination can probably deal with that.

[@aluisious]

If the hallway catches fire all those kids are dead.

[@ertuncdelikaya8237]

That's illegal here in Turkey too. I'm shocked to see that it's allowed in the US.

[@ChocolateHabanero22]

​@Ertunç Delikaya iIn the US, it isn't legal. I had to cut an egress window in my basement last year to have a safe and legal bedroom in my own house. I seriously doubt this project will ever leave the ground based on these concern alone.

[@gregmark1688]

@@ChocolateHabanero22 And the board almost certainly knows this already, making the whole exercise even more of a grim-faced circle jerk.

[@wescole5979]

Wait, how is that not illegal in CALIFORNIA? The wildlife capital of the US refuses to have basic fire safety laws? WTF

[@Avatinfernus]

Very dangerous. There was an illegal AirBnB in Montreal where they wound up "renovating" to make more apartments by creating windowless small apartments inside the center of the building. It caught on fire and people died while texting for help as they had no windows to escape. This 'prison' here sounds like fire hazard to me. No wonder they put it right next to the fire department. It's almost like they knew

[@sycration]

Sleepwalking back to the 1830s with this bullshit

[@danielmitchell940]

UCSB alum here, I want all of you to know that the students are fighting tooth and nail against this ridiculous project, as I was when I was a student. The administration really doesn't care about student voices. We had multiple events where engineering/architecture students worked with renowned architects to redesign Munger Hall, but the school just ignored us. I want UCSB to be known for these students that are going out of their way to help future attendees fix an important housing problem, not its ridiculous leadership that tries to appease a megalomaniac.

[@SignificantNumberOfBeavers]

But you're not a billionaire, silly! Only billionaires have good ideas because they work so hard to be rich douchebags!

[@ThePrashu31]

So the only hope the students have is hoping the old man croaks soon, eh?

[@kooferkoo4969]

I think at this point you want those students to not be associated with UCSB, to not be so hopelessly embarrassed.

[@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009]

Start demonstrating your gripes with this project like the french do, they will listen to your complains very quickly

[@CaelWhiz]

It's frustrating to see this and not be able to help, but just hope the students can keep the fight going and essentially stall the 'project' until the old creep dies.

[@EnderCreeper168]

This by far isn't the biggest problem with this whole design, but I like how the only study rooms on the ground floor all border the MUSIC ROOM. Yes, that's going to really help people focus, the sound of instruments thumping straight through the walls of the study...

[@viorelcontu5557]

that is borderline idiotic

[@ericdew2021]

I would assume that the music rooms would be sound proofed so that neither sound goes into the room nor comes out of the room. I'm guessing it's for students who want to practice playing their instruments.

[@Pepino8A]

@@ericdew2021 there is only so much sound-proofing you can do

[@ericdew2021]

@@Pepino8A Yeah, except most people using the music room ain't doing with powerful amps and huge speakers. They're just tickling the ivories or perhaps playing a violin. Those who need to play loud brass will probably go to Lotte Lehman and practice there.

[@KnightMirkoYo]

@@ericdew2021 I'm pretty sure you'd still hear a violin or a piano from a directly adjacent study room. Not even mentioning that drums exists and are pretty popular in all most forms of music.

[@JeffDM]

A dystopia where you have to endure humiliating trials for the opportunity to live in Munger Hall: the Munger Games

[@crapshot321]

LOL!!😆😆😆

[@landchannel7688]

I am angry at you for this

[@mollusckscramp4124]

@@landchannel7688 I'm angry because it's so real, I can only imagine how bad the student housing situation is in Santa Barbara. The kids will probably be grateful for even having their little jail cells and compensatory student marts.

[@hamstermk4]

I went to UC Santa Cruz. My dorm room was on the 5th floor and had a window that looked out over a bunch of red wood trees. When it got foggy (as it often does in Santa Cruz) you could look down and see the trees trunks disappearing into the mists. I graduated 20 years ago and the memory is etched into my brain.

[@aluisious]

SC looks like a really cool campus if you like that vibe. I ride by there all the time on weekends. I went to LA and thought it was great. GF went to SD and thought it was weird and depressing. I visited last year and she's right, it is weird and depressing.

[@hopesflaw6523]

Yeah but I heard there where also no sinks to wash your dishes and somehow magically when all the water got polluted they blamed people using the public bathrooms to wash dishes. The water was coming out discolored from the sinks in a entire dorm.

[@lzh4950]

My university hostel meanwhile was built on the side of a ridge, with my room facing the forest on it, so I'd get woken up by roosters inside the forest @ 7.45am daily. A squirrel also managed to wander from the forest into 1 of our pantries & gnaw @ 1 of my neighbour's Tupperware

[@ghostdemy2610]

i’m a student at UCSB and visited the mock-up last summer, it is genuinely psychotic they think people can live in those conditions. the tour guide even said that the final building would be notably SMALLER than the mock-up…. all because the university didn’t build housing ten years ago like they promised

[@SharienGaming]

you know... those rooms in the video remind me of slightly better furnished solitary isolation prison cells... tells you quite a bit about the mind that designed the place right? large common area and solitary isolation cells and only the staff get to have direct access to the outside...

[@cynicalactivist]

They sure charge you more than 10 years ago though!

[@ghostdemy2610]

also just realized my pics of the mock-up are the ones used in the video so there you go LOL

[@channul4887]

Quick question - do you and/or your colleagues still wear face nappies, as can be seen in this video?

[@erwindewit4073]

@@SharienGamingPerhaps mr. Billionaire could honour the students by also moving in and living in one of those rooms for a year? Or perhaps we can transform his mansion into a zillion coffin rooms as well! Win win right?

[@ThunderTheBlackShadowKitty]

Millionaires and billionaires suffer from elite projection, the phenomenon that whatever seems convenient, accessible and progressive to them must be good for society as a whole. They don't see the financial wall separating us from them.

[@pillmuncher67]

One more reason to abolish billionaires and millionaires.

[@fauster2850]

more likely that they do see it and they simply don't care

[@GamesFromSpace]

Most people are myopic that way, billionaires just have too much power to inflict their idiocy on others.

[@wanderingrandomer]

They don't see any walls, because their offices are open plan

[@OneofInfinity.]

@@SigFigNewton Competence and intelligence.

[@kikuru_]

Something related to this is the new dorms made at my school that I had to live in. While they had windows, none of them opened. Meaning if you wanted fresh air, you'd have to go out of the 8 story building. This was a decision made to prevent people from jumping, but people could access the roof of the building. Not to mention that having no fresh air, poor food quality, one kitchen for ~2000 students, no easy access to public transit, and no commercial zones accessible by foot, probably did worse for my mental health than suicide prevention by no fresh air.

[@Emidretrauqe]

American?

[@kikuru_]

@@Emidretrauqe I'm not sure if this would happen anywhere else lol

[@Emidretrauqe]

@@kikuru_ Me neither.

[@aluisious]

Sad. My 2nd year at UCLA I lived on the top floor of a 10 story building facing the city and a distant ocean view. We called it the "penthouse." Windows opened. No kitchen in my building, but a short walk to several dorm restaurants that had really great food the 2 years I lived on campus. A meal there would cost at least $35 now if I went out to buy it now. Walking distance to Westwood which was a pretty cool commercial area. Didn't appreciate it enough when I was there. That was good living, except for being jealous when I saw 6 feet in one shower stall.

[@lzh4950]

Many of my university's hostels meanwhile force you to pay for breakfast & dinner served there so that we spend more time bonding with fellow hostel neighbours over meals, but it can prove inflexible sometimes e.g. if your friends not staying @ the same hostel as you want to meet you for dinner outside, or if you have to eat dinner earlier before the hostel's dinner service starts because of a clash with your project meetings

[@jetlagged3645]

"Imagine being stuck in an 8 hour LAN party with people you don't like where the only game is Microsoft Excel" Dang as an EVE player I've never felt more offended by something I 100% agree with. Edit: this building is going to do wonders for America's already psychologically messed up population, I'm sure there will most certainly NOT be any future problems with students literally going insane in that actual jail of a dorm.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

I do think social isolation in modern times is a huge issue, but this is not a solution to it at all.

[@XMysticHerox]

Having a common room etc etc is a good idea. Everything else not so much. Incentivize third places. Don't disincentivize people staying in their own apartment. Depressed people don't socialize.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

​@@XMysticHerox yeah exactly, a great example is having a bigger bedroom with a nice window would allow for more socialisation in your room as well as your friends can hangout in it. Even his goal would be better served by doing the opposite.

[@Knollock]

There's a degree to which people can't avoid being in their dorm rooms. If you're typing up a long essay, you want to do it in comfort and privacy, not in a large common area where others can constantly distract you. There's no good reason to destroy someone's sanity. People will socialize with each other naturally if it is comfortable and convenient to do so.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

​​@@Knollock exactly make the social spaces varied and comfortable and people will gravitate towards them, rather than forcing them to use them. And that includes making the room bigger with a nice big window as that will allow for socialisation in the room as well. And as you say a good and comfortable space to do essay work on your own.

[@vast9467]

It’s only an issue because people don’t want to socialize

[@XMysticHerox]

My dad is in a Betriebsrat and they have been fighting management for years trying to prevent ever more open offices. The real reason for them is very simple. They are really cheap in comparison. You can cram in way more employees without walls and such in the way. And you can easily move things around as needed to enable the latest fit of middle management trying to make themselves look important by rearranging things for no real reason.

[@skitlus335]

There's an obvious short term benefit, but long term you face lower productivity from employees who are constantly disturbed, get sick more often, and are more likely to leave

[@XMysticHerox]

@@skitlus335 Yes but that would require long term thinking extending beyond next years bonus payment.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Yep

[@wellwell7950]

Jay

[@SumriseHD]

Lol is Betriebsrat actually used in english? That's amazing

[@jernaugurgeh451]

Being forced to work in an open plan office as a web dev and graphic designer at my university employer after years of happily sharing a room with a couple of academics (who were hardly ever in) nearly made me go postal... I ended up having to have 3-4 months off work after my meltdown, and then only came back after being given my own desk in a large 'quiet room' for occasional use by academics with laptops wanting to focus. Working from home the past 3 years has been great... and when I do pop into the office, I'm not surprised to see the main open plan part almost totally empty.

[@snorttroll4379]

Does this change if one is partners?

[@RunawayYe]

We have two conference rooms dedicated to meetings, presentations and phone calls. There are at max 16 people working in this space but due to people often working from home there are rarely even 10 people in. So, few people, two conference rooms empty for calls. Yet there are two individuals who are too lazy to go to a conference room and always do their calls at their desk. Just last week I had to listen for over half an over of "mhm... yeah... mhm... yeah" that was the only thing repeated over and over again and maybe a sentence every couple of minutes. That was the call. I wanted to smash their laptop in their face.

[@marocat4749]

Another thing, even more neuridiverse hostile 😮 Oh oh not ones suffer too massively, they just have more tolerance temporaryly an still very bad

[@detectivewiggles]

There's a reason: Histamine. I cannot stress enough that dopamine and serotonin are red herrings. Mental health is ACTUALLY about histamine. You have two separate immune systems, but medicine only talks about one. The second immune system that is so unbelievably complex that medicine doesn't even begin to understand it is directly responsible for your personality, your moods, emotions, and your mental health. The main reason that an open office plan is so destructive is that you are exposed to hundreds of people's personal allergens. Body products in the US are already not regulated at all, and most people put on 15 different kinds of poison before shuffling their stupid body into public space to all medically torture each other. This destroys every single person's brain and life over time. They're doing this on purpose. Global capitalism IS DISASTROUS for your second secret immune system (the innate immune system, which responds to Literally Every Single Thing Ever)

[@lzh4950]

My company meanwhile removed overhead lockers/cupboards from our cubicles to shorten the partitions between them so that our working area feels less claustrophobic, but afterwards added transparent partitions on top of them to reduce risk of virus transmission during the pandemic, which my colleagues thought was ironic

[@flyboymb]

My university decided to put waterless urinals into the third floor men's room in our Biology building. This restroom was directly over the women's room on the second floor. The purpose was to save on water usage and the cost associated with it. The actual result was that all that concentrated urine ate right through the pipes and started to saturate the walls and ceiling of the women's room. The whole row of urinals was promptly bagged over until they could gut everything out and put in more robust drainage. Not sure if the women's room still smells like peepee or not.

[@lzh4950]

Sounds like the bacteria in those urinals' catridges aren't doing their job; they're supposed to break down the urine so you shouldn't still be finding them in concentrated form in the pipes

[@lordspaghettifan5300]

A frequent problem in college resident halls is that people will try to smoke weed in their rooms which then sets off the entire building's fire alarm and everyone has to evacuate. Now imagine that happening in this building at 2 in the morning. Edit: Checked out the UCSB panel and big props to the students. I hope they've put a serious dent in any similar plans like this at their own and other college campuses

[@velisvideos6208]

It will get the students to socialize. And in fresh air too.

[@NareshSinghOctagon]

Now imagine that said weed started a fire that blocked a staircase(or multiple)or a hallway(or multiple),where one solution used to be the windows in the dorms.

[@qty1315]

Ah, marijuana smoke doesn't actually trigger smoke alarms by itself, it's the smoke from the paper. So, if you smoke a bong instead of a joint you won't set off the smoke alarm and can smoke as much as you want. Just make sure the pot smokers have clean bongs they can use.

[@VargVikernes1488]

Not defending this disgusting project, but the obvious solution is to punish people who try smoking inside, not acomodating them.

[@krux02]

I don't know about US laws, bit here in Germany, it is their right to smoke in their dorm rooms if they want to do so. I wouldn't recommend it, and weed isn't legal either. But this seem to be a problem of the fire alarm system, not of the student.

[@ashfsdfhsdfh]

I worked for an award-winning interiors firm that had the Motorola and U. Chicago contract (and several other big telecom firms). The open plan office was never about team cohesion, it was always about less square feet per employee. Full Stop. Our firm got its great reputation with these clients by saving them millions per facility by reducing cube sizes and packing in more people per SF. We made one executive look good by reducing his real estate costs all over the world, and there was no post-occupancy interviews.

[@techpriest4787]

So you are saying that eating the bugs has nothing to do with saving anything or anybody but their own money? Imagine my shock...

[@em.1633]

So why did you just function as a cog? Why didn't you look for another job?

[@TheN0remac]

and now most offices cant even fill half the building

[@dercooney]

@@TheN0remac well, i guess office space is no longer a super huge deal. guess we can go back to offices

[@pwnrzero]

The megacorp I work for was renovating our offices from traditional cubes to an open office concept. Management didn't hide that this was a cost cutting measure since the main buildings were out of space. Funny enough, the pandemic put an end to in person office work. Maybe 10 percent of our employees are in the building on a hybrid schedule. No need for renovations when all that precious commercial real estate is unused. 😂

[@Ju_lee137]

I used to work in an office like that as a working student for a big bank while studying economics. It was unbareable and became one of the reasons that made me seriously reconsider the career i had planned out for myself until this point. When the office in the first matrix movie starts looking cosy all of a sudden you know you're doing something wrong.

[@mishynaofficial]

@@LonerWeirdo then we live in a world worse than dystopia...

[@Tyxaar]

This reminds me of an episode of the Magnus Archives, where this building was specifically designed to invoke loneliness into its residents. It was big, but not big enough to comfortably house two people. The halls were plain and uninviting, you couldn't tell the difference between a closet and your neighbours' door, no communal places to speak of, and the entire streetfront was a barren wasteland. It was a hell, it was designed to be. A prison of solitude devoid of humanity but with people all around.

[@barritoothy]

how the hell did the authorities give that project the go-ahead

[@Tyxaar]

@@barritoothy Bribe money and extortion probably. Also, it was billed as a cheap but luxurious housing project.

[@towelie1313]

I'm surprised you did not mention how much of a fire hazard this building is. Can you imagine a fire breaking out in there? Ventilation in that thing cannot be good and those tiny hallways certainly won't help during potential evacuation...

[@kevincrady2831]

Even just a power outage will be loads of "fun."

[@dersieborg5088]

...fire outbreak? How? Fire needs Air🤪

[@megami.x]

@@dersieborg5088 I’m sure it has a built-in system that sucks all the oxygen out of the air. After all, saving the costly building is important 💀

[@oliverchapman4969]

@@dersieborg5088 So do humans. If humans can breathe in building so can a fire. Fire also releases a large amount of toxic gasses (the main cause of death in fires is inhalation of these gasses), so put a human in a poorly ventilated space and fill it with toxic gas from a fire and I wonder what happens...

[@dersieborg5088]

@@oliverchapman4969 Who cares about humans? It is designed by a billionaire!

[@ergohash2517]

his description of working in an open office is spot on. i remember chatting with my neighboring collegue (who was half a meter away from me) through a chat messenger instead of talking in person because our middle manager was sitting behind us and we always felt like we were being spied on and everyone can listen to what you say. Especially when the whole office is silent - you dont want to stand out. edit : oh, and higher management had private offices with blurred out and soundproof walls :)

[@wellwell7950]

Same

[@simontaylor2143]

My experience was there was actually quite a few conversations going on at any one time. Although the drawback of that was that you couldn't help being distracted from what you were actually trying to get on with

[@herrklugscheiser2330]

Jokes on you, those chat Programms can be surveilled even better.

[@ergohash2517]

@@herrklugscheiser2330 true. but we were using discord on that job, so i hope private discord chats are a better option than some in-house chat program. those ones can be checked easily for sure

[@TheLikeys]

It’s like if you were to try doing team work in a library reading room

[@botulum]

I remember as a kid in 90s watching US movies and thinking that working in a cubical is a nightmare. Now, after years of working in open space office, I think cubical is a pretty neat concept.

[@thenetworkingstudy2208]

His experience with open-plan office sounds exactly like mine. The lack of privacy kills cooperation in my opinion, because the only way we could communicate without worrying about coworkers eavesdropping or judging was via text/chat app. I hated it so much, never thought I would long for a cubicle.

[@Hello-nm1ys]

A few years ago part of my Highschool burnt down, and the replacement building was an open plan hellscape called “Integrated Learning” Everyone hated it.

[@idontwantahandlethough]

INTEGRATED WITH WHAT?! The other students? What if, as would be the case in all likelihood, they're working on science while I'm doing my English lit homework? If we try to "integrate" that together, we both fail.. why would I want that lol

[@wellwell7950]

What does that even mean?

[@Hello-nm1ys]

I was taught in that building for six years and I still don’t know.

[@mr.g1555]

Burn it twice

[@galliumgames3962]

@@idontwantahandlethough ∫e^x^2 dx

[@Graemyr]

My office switched over to the open concept thing, and it was actually an improvement. Not because of the open concept, but because when they redesigned the space they moved the manager's offices to the interior of the building, liberating the windows for the rest of the employees. Seeing daylight was immensely beneficial to my mental health, though it didn't take long for privacy issues to put me on edge again. Nowadays there's so few people in the office, it's easy to find a private desk, so the open concept is great! It's like having an entire office building to yourself! 😂

[@cx24venezuela]

It's not better working remote?

[@kingszeno]

Ah yes, the only thing better then a private room is a private floor.

[@erwindewit4073]

Oh yes, the ONE good thing COVID brought us. Working from home, not those open plan hell holes..

[@shadician]

@@erwindewit4073 everyone has a different working style. Some people thrive working remote, others prefer quiet focus of an office, others still thrive off the chaos of open plan socialising. You could easily make a video about how remote working is hell (terrible for ergonomics, socially isolating, distracting, corporate surveillance at home, unable to separate work and life, requires bigger home)...or heaven (flexibility, use your own equipment, work on your own terms, control your environment, save time and money). In the end I think what matters is giving your employees the option to work in the space and way that they prefer.

[@astererratum6546]

I can't work, but if I could I'd love to have an old school cubicle space. I loved the idea of my own little cubbyhole to make my own. I have some SEVERE social anxiety. The open plan would make me have a panic attack everyday if I had to work there. I really wish I could work though. Not because I enjoy being a slave to a corporate overlord, but because it'd give me something to do other than stay in bed or staring at a screen. I also miss problem-solving tasks and such. I am also one of the few people that actually enjoy mundane paperwork tasks. Especially if I have a nice clicky keyboard. Still not a big fan of how horrible current work culture is though. Sometimes I'm happy I'm disabled since I don't have to worry about to horrible working conditions others have, but then again, being disabled really really sucks. Especially if it's chronic pain and fatigue.

[@far-away-so-close4540]

The prototype for this has already been built at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, my alma mater, with a top-10-ranked architecture school. I am stunned that the architecture and urban planning faculty didn't speak up and resist that monstrosity. Access to light and air has been one of the driving goals of building codes for well over 100 years. And evidence-based studies have shown the health benefits of natural light and views of nature. And it has all been thrown out with these buildings, which treat students like factory-farmed livestock.

[@LifeUntilLove]

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention the already existing Munger Hall. It at least has larger rooms and the common space with windows is only for the 'suite'. Still terrible for Michigan though.

[@luiskp7173]

Here’s my two cents on this: It was “Inspired” on Ocean liners and Naval vessels, where the sleeping areas are minuscule, many times without windows and the common areas are big. But that was out of necessity. In this case there’s no need for a monolithic architecture, you can build small blocks instead.

[@bilge677]

9:00 the irony in having "let there be light" in the logo of the university and building dorm rooms with no windows

[@AkuraTheAwesome]

Yeah I noticed that too and was surprised Adam didn't comment on the irony.

[@danielkostenko8189]

Light, not sunlight

[@oliwierkwiatkowski8817]

Now imagine this: everyone left, but you overslept and are alone in the vast hall. And then something very peculiar happened. Something that would forever change the Student. Something he would never quite forget. He had been at his desk for nearly an hour when he had realized not one single order had arrived on the monitor for him to follow. The Students Parable.

[@KristovMars]

I only recently (last week or two) became aware of The Backrooms, and this building puts me in mind of that (and of my dreams where I'm stuck wandering around an empty labyrinthine building with no hope of escape)

[@thedoruk6324]

@@KristovMars its ironic the so called business centers are easiest places to noclip straight to backrooms makes someone wonder if they are deliberately built this way as traps

[@ntPingu]

Instantly had the narrator's voice in my head :D

[@eddyc4603]

Fck.

[@baldrickthesphereofamusement]

The bucket was the villain all along!

[@isaacthered]

I'm sure all the students with severe contact food allergies will just _love_ being forced to choose between locking themselves in a walk-in closet or spending all their time in the place where all of the food is, all the while having no space that allows them to cook for themselves.

[@_Adie]

I read a book where people lived in little rooms with LED panels instead of windows. It was, you know, dystopian future. I thought I'd be long gone before stuff like that actually happens.

[@girlwithaguitar24]

You don't get it, Adam. UCSB IS a non-profit school. There are for-profit universities that do underhanded shit that you can't possibly imagine. UCSB by nature of being in California and being 'non-profit' means its (scarily) one of the good ones. It gets so, SO much worse, and its a rabbithole you won't leave for a while.

[@icantthinkofaname4265]

This needs to be bumped up

[@jasonhaven7170]

11:59 It's beyond non-profit. It's owned and controlled by the state of California. The state of California thinks it's okay.

[@GarethStack]

'Non profit' is a bizarre American invention. Rather than a charity or public institution, you have a profit making institution which still pays obscene salaries to senior staff and still charges for its services, while being ostensibly not a business. This is a distinction without a difference in many cases. Specifically in the US, 'public' universities still charge thousands to tens of thousands per year. This is 'cheap' only in comparison to the obscene fees at 'for profit' and 'not for profit' private universities. So you have 'for profit' schools, which seems to be primarily straight up cons or at best diploma mills. Extortionate higher status private 'not for profit' universities (like most of the Ivy League), and 'public' 'not for profit' universities that are still charging immense amounts and driven endowment seeking. None of this compares to an actual public university system.

[@jasonhaven7170]

@@GarethStack You're European, right? Also, these state colleges (University of California (state college system), Santa Barbara) are owned and controlled by the states. It's like the University of London if it wasn't owned and controlled by the London government (not the British government, mind you).

[@Kwpolska]

It might be good by US standards. Compared to the EU, it is still crazily expensive ($15k/year for CA residents) and is beholden to rich donors.

[@salzwassersamunddiesoljank5573]

Its kind of fascinating that a society where everything is a public space is just as nightmarish and dystopian as a society where everything is a private space. Goes to show that a balanced mix of both is probably the best approach for all of us. Social isolation is bad, at the same time socializing needs to be a voluntary action and not forced upon you by others, especially not by corporate business interest.

[@mr.paperbag771]

Extremism, no matter about what, always leads to destruction. This is true from biology to how societies form to physics.

[@fish3977]

There is a reason why the soviet system is knows as "state capitalism". The game is the same but instead of a company running everything it is the state

[@Bustermachine]

@@mr.paperbag771 Pretty much. You try to cram everything together without boundaries, and you get a neurotic mush. You try to spread everything apart, you get neurotic isolation. I'm not even particularly bothered by the idea of bosses having access to specialized private spaces, management does discuss confidential information after all, or workers having general use public spaces, employees need to be able to easily collaborate. To use your biology example, workspaces need to be diversified environments that serve the needs of the different types of work that happen in them. Sometimes you do need to be around all your coworkers, sometimes you need privacy or at least semi privacy. Frustratingly, one of the selling points of the original 'cubicle' concept was that they could be easily reconfigured to suite changing office needs. But this almost never happened in practice. Because good design costs money and management wants things to stay static and under their complete control rather than . . . managing the creativity and problem solving abilities of their employees and directing it towards an objective.

[@odraz0101]

Same problems comes from the fact that in both systems actual decision makers (billionaires or party members) almost equally deprived of democratic feedback from the people.

[@troll2161]

I disagree. A society where everything is public wouldn't necessary devolve into a dystopia if actually run by the people and not an authoritarian or pseudo benevolent state. There is also an interesting video by Second Thought which discusses why social democracy (a socialist/capitalist hybrid system) is not enough. Striving for a middle ground is not always necessary.

[@Roosk]

Imagine being a student there while there’s an electricity outage

[@janelantestaverde2018]

"Where did my window go!?"

[@duel2k7]

A music room next to study rooms? That's an oversight it's self

[@wvlfboyy]

Architect here. When looking for a new place to live, I ALWAYS choose to go with large windows. Doesn't matter whether it's a really tiny old crappy top floor studio or some ground floor apartment. It makes such a difference. Sunlight really brings architecture to life.

[@lawkig]

One of my few complaints about commie blocks and currently a pain point :(

[@desolateleng9943]

Unless they're TOO large, and then it becomes freezing in the winter and a sauna during the summer. And they're a pain to clean.

[@snorttroll4379]

Could the sunlight be partially replaced by flood lights? Xenon or halogen bulbs

[@lunaangeleclipse9745]

@@desolateleng9943 That's what double glaze and triple glaze are for, I guess?

[@wvlfboyy]

@@lawkig imo you can really make em work. 'Never too Small' has some amazing examples.

[@insaneshepherd8678]

As someone who earned all of his architectural knowledge in prison architect, when I saw the 6:14 floor plan, I did feel a little bit of pride. It is always nice to see video game skills translate to practical real life applications after everyone kept telling me I was wasting my time.

[@endernoah9526]

Kinda looks like a prison floor. Just add some windows to have prisoners be happy. Oh wait, this is a university...@*#$.

[@cola98765]

9:12 Let's see... if this was PA I would make the main pathways vertical and would space out cells to to have 3 tiles of open air so it would work more like soviet style blocks with window looking at another -prisoner- student... Common room needs to be wider anyway so the space is not really wasted... Also I would like to point out that at 6.5m^2 those rooms barely meet requirements of smallest cells available at the start.

[@sybrandwoudstra9236]

I can already hear the tasers cracking in the background

[@endernoah9526]

@@sybrandwoudstra9236 I can hear the little 'wee woo wee woo' the guards make when a fight happens.

[@muggins2279]

Textbook cellblock layout for sure

[@bhig3]

My office switched from really nice tall cubicles with built in storage and pin boards etc to much smaller ones with low useless walls. The office culture changed overnight. It made the sales team's work annoying to everyone else since they had to on have loud conversations that carried to every corner of the office.

[@BigRobChicagoPL]

As a 4 year commuter student, I am happy I never had to spend time living in a dorm. One thing I remember when visiting friend rooms is the smell. Now imagine that you can't even vent that, yuck! Side note as a fellow introvert, the BEST areas to study if you are dormless like me or hate your roommate(s) are empty classrooms. Depending on the rooms, they can have cozy seating, big space, and windows that open, all with no one else to bother you

[@aluisious]

Pretty sure the empty classrooms have been locked at all the schools I've gone to.

[@BigRobChicagoPL]

@@aluisious thats interesting. Everything on my campus is open until 11 usually and you can freely waltz into most rooms

[@lzh4950]

I was fortunate that my university's course/major's department had our own computer labs (installed with software needed by our modules/courses that other labs didn't have), & when there weren't any classes scheduled in those labs, it could be used as a study room for my course/major's students

[@TheDarthbinky]

So basically this Munger fellow read about the Fallout video games and Vault-tec's experiments and said to himself, "hell yeah, this is something I can totally copy!"

[@kiefershanks4172]

"I AM VAULT-TEC!" - Charlie Munger

[@GeminautVA]

I wish billionaires had even that modicum of self-awareness. Truth is, this guy just does not have a human connection. He's just apathetic. Maybe not evil, but completely disconnected.

[@mrjack08722]

I have only worked in open plan offices. So i thought the constant feeling of stress i had was just "being at work" Until i got a job where i had my own office. MY GOD. It was actually a game changer.

[@user-74652]

I consider myself lucky that all my jobs so far have been remote. Hell, isn't _that_ the ultimate way to save money on office space?

[@thaboshikwambane5578]

Interesting…Three biggest changes/realisations l?

[@Phylaetra]

I spent a winter in Antarctica - no windows, tiny room that was only there for me to sleep in - fortunately, the base was large enough that we had larger 'private' areas (our work spaces, generally - but all of the common areas had times when they were empty). Volunteer for hydroponics if you ever go - then you get bright light from the grow-lights. At the end of the winter we were all pretty crunchy - there's a reason people are not allowed to winter two years in a row. Now - add crowding (we were 29 people) - ugh! Even in the Army, when I did stay in open-bay barracks (which are not really used too much once you are done with training), we had windows (and you could snatch private moments - but you were generally too busy to think about it, but it also didn't take long to move on to more reasonable dorm-like arrangements (training is rarely over a year, more often less than 4-6 months). Munger Hall just sounds like a nightmare.

[@anewhero1216]

When I lived on campus in university, I lived on the bottom floor of the cheapest dorms, closest to the edge of the nearby river valley... on the opposite side of the building from the valley, pointed toward the hill the campus was on. Even that boring view of an upward slope for a year was infinitely better than the idea of being in a windowless tomb in the middle of a building for any length of time lol

[@lzh4950]

1 of my hostel's neighbours' rooms faced the main road adjacent to it & she reportedly got awoken by the university's shuttle buses passing by it

[@massivepileup]

Yes, open plan offices, a place where you're afraid to talk because you will bother all the other workers, are definitely going to boost cooperation...

[@benfowler1134]

... or where EVERYONE is talking. Then, you get the nightclub effect where because everyone is talking, everyone needs to SHOUT to make themselves heard, and then people who are actually _working_ and not just stuffing about on company time, are put through hell. Either way, it sucks.

[@Fusilier7]

I have autism, and open space offices are my living hell. I use to work these corrals, it was very hostile to neurodivergents, noises, limited of personal space, social anxiety, and stress, it's sick when billionaires have the power to treat people like cattle, or worse, experimenting on people like lab rats, trapped in cages and scurrying through mazes, plus this is all occurring in California, so much for being a liberal paradise, even in a "Blue State", the rich are more liberated than average people, with the freedom to run amok on the powerless.

[@AdamFaruqi]

Blue state means nothing. Democrats and Republicans are two heads on the same capitalist hydra.

[@reecesx]

go to google trends, type in neurodivergent, and then come back with an actual word that you didnt invent 2 years ago to sound special.

[@benfowler1134]

Libertarianism is an invented ideology pushed by "think tanks" and other dark-PR-for-hire outfits to justify the ultra-rich to do what they want. It was never about actual liberty.

[@VargVikernes1488]

Have you tried not having autism?

[@disappointedmess209]

@@reecesx lmao the term is from the 90s please just google it before typing a reply for god sake

[@catmoon-]

A lot of landlords are already doing stuff like this. Last year when I was moving to a mid size city in my country (which is considered a small city in the global context) I saw several postings for very tiny studios (around 10sqm) that didnt have windows for the outside. They had small windows but was for an inside area that had some more light like the laundry room or "social room". Those rooms were targeted to students, because landlords know they won't have higher standards, as a working person, and they are in immediate need of finding a place to live.

[@stargazer378]

Depending on where you live, those might straight up be illegal as a majority of countries require 2 exits in case of fire.

[@gaillewis5472]

Decades ago, I worked in an open plan office. Even our boss was in the same space. It was difficult to work over everyone's chatter. We couldn't talk to family members, make appointments or resolve consumer issues during our breaks without EVERYONE minding our business. We all hated it. Any talented individuals left and reassembled the team at a company that respected normal boundaries, plus paid better.

[@juances]

I never saw an open office where the boss/manager sits there with his employee. They always get their own personal room. That's how you know they are aware it sucks, they just don't care as long as it's not them the ones that have to suffer it.

[@anna-flora999]

I actually had an open office where the boss sat with the rest. It was a very small company and they couldn't afford single offices, so the employees, boss, and secretary where all in one big room

[@grimgoreironhide9985]

@@anna-flora999 That’s when you know your boss is too poor 😂

[@user-ut8ed1mz3d]

​@@anna-flora999 Me to. And it was a shitty hell, because this boss are loud speaking imbecile. Even when he gets separated room, he constantly visited common room, because he bored and he needs to relax by talking bullshit.

[@tokarp390]

Come to Goldman Sachs where middle manager sits with coworkers. There is more - some open space are closed area with walls - to enforce privacy. Phone box have 3 walls and there is pool of small cabinet to make a call and separate for 1on1 meeting or recruitment. Come to us we have cookies :).

[@LukeFrisken]

I work at a company with about 50 employees in an open plan office. The boss sits with us. I also worked at another company with around 100 employees in the same office, the top boss didn't sit with us but almost everyone did, he may as well have sat with us. I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Easy access to chat with co-workers across the floor about cross-cutting concerns, the feeling of space and natural light. Almost everyone works with headphones on listening to music so the slight noise of people chatting quietly across the room is not a concern. Also most conversation happens via text message anyway because some employees work remotely. It sounds like some people had a bad experience, I'm tempted to chalk that down to poor company culture or personal preference.

[@randomdude2600]

Munger actually designed a major dorm at my school, the University of Michigan. His dorm has no windows in the bedrooms but has one in the common area. So you have to go to the living room to get natural light, though unlike the Santa Barbara one, this is basically just a regular apartment with only one window, and even that sucks.

[@pabloapostar7275]

I actually had no idea that building was suppose to be a dorm. I walked by it for years about 25 times a year. I only found out what it was when I read Michigan had a Munger dorm at another website that reported on Santa Barbara's "Supermax prison" and I I did a google search.

[@randomdude2600]

@Pablo Apostar yeah, that is one of the worst dorms the University has. Granted, the more normal ones are of variable quality (cough cough Bursley), but still, that place just feels like some weird experiment.

[@jasonhaven7170]

Why are state colleges allowing this? Why are the state governments allowing this?

[@perfectallycromulent]

@@jasonhaven7170 have you heard anything about the US? one major political party believes in letting big business do whatever it wants except for selling abortion pills.

[@pedrob3953]

Munger designed? So is he an architect or something? So because he's a billionaire he can do whatever the f*ck he wants?

[@squigglycircle]

At first I thought the UCSB seal saying "Let there be light" was a joke ("...but not in our student dorms"), but then I found out it is the actual motto of UCSB, and that's just too funny

[@ameyorin]

Can't make that shit up, the irony is just *_chef's kiss_*

[@MrBirdnose]

It's the motto of the entire UC system.

[@catserver8577]

These corporate billionaires want one thing, and one thing only. Worker bees to give them everything they have and want for as little as possible in return.

[@fabonzanaon8177]

Ju will own nossing, und ju will bi happy!!

[@Alex-cw3rz]

If you want people to socialise why don't you make the rooms bigger so that friends can come and hang out, maybe a bigger window with a nice view, so it will be a pleasant place. Have a large enough kitchen area where you can hang out if you want to. Outside decking area so people can again socialise there if they want to. And then a large communal space available again if people want to use that. Fferm Penglais student accommodation in Aberystwyth is a perfect example of this.

[@wta1518]

At least Santa Barbara is pronounceable.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

​@@wta1518 Well that's Welsh for you and to be fair Aberystwyth sounds nicer when you know how to pronounce it.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

tbh a first floor comunal space(+rooms for handi caps) sounds like a great idea. its mainly the one thing that should be taken from the project. and its somthing i strongly belive (i belive govermants small and big (like city size ) should put more money into communti activitys and spaces (and like heavily premot does) to halp whit the modern social apedemic )

[@alanr4845]

I actually like this dorm layout. Very bare bones and not full of uneccssary BS, that will just make rent cost more.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

​@@alanr4845 do you mean the one in the video or the one I'm talking about?

[@elvastan]

My university recently proposed a plan to actually put all the parking lots into one big parking garage, and is re-developing the old parking lots into a mix of faculty offices, classes, small businesses, and dorms. It's a fantastic plan and they were clearly inspired by the work of Not Just Bikes, Strong Towns, and you!

[@eliasvalimaa4282]

I rent a 22m^2 apartment meant for students and I thought I had it bad. But now I know that luxuries such as *fresh air* and *privacy* should not be taken granted!

[@stewy497]

I'm reminded of a book called Thirteen Stories by Jonathan Sims. It's primarily a horror story, a series of interconnected vignettes set in a haunted block of flats built by a shady billionaire, but it does comment in passing on how the layout of the building contributes to the misery of the residents and how that interacts with wider societal issues.

[@stankunloadeduniversity3726]

I read that as Jonathan Sins and i was boutta say lol

[@TimTomTwo]

My final straw that made me quit my old job, was exactly because they build a new "open office" bullshit and forced us in there. And your description: "...being stuck in an 8 hours silent LAN party with people you don't like and the only game available is Microsoft Excel..." hits the nail on the head.

[@therealspeedwagon1451]

Meanwhile I don’t even have a job and never have. part of me likes it and part of me doesn’t

[@KristovMars]

I love this description so very hard! P.S. I wouldn't rate Excel in my top 37000 games of all time, but I recently watched a People Make Games episode where Quinns and team play in an e-sports league which does, in fact, have people playing competitive Excel. SMH.

[@Kasparth]

I like my coworkers and like working on open space, it all depends on what you are doing honestly. Cubicles are shit, i dont concentrate more it just depressed me.

[@ANunes06]

Imagine not reading about this in the flurry of all the other stuff you have to do as a HS senior. You get accepted to UCSB. You are really excited to move out West and make some friends and enjoy the college experience while you set yourself up for the future. You arrive at the designated hall. You walk inside with all of your stuff. You ... keep walking. And take an elevator. And ... keep walking. Eventually, you find your room, open the door, and Windowless Prison Cell. You think, it's not so bad. I'll basically just be sleeping here anyway. Nope. You'll be spending 2 to 6 hours a day doing work in there. Slowly losing your damned mind. You're going to wake up every day to no actual sunlight. Depression will set in. You'll stop going to classes and sleeping in. Killing time between those precious moments when your friends aren't busy so you can drag yourself out of your dungeon and pretend you're okay. And when 60% of these 3000 Freshman flunk out due to mental anguish, they can enjoy being saddled with 30k in debt for the privilege.

[@dominicnowell6947]

It seems like the perfect environment for suicides to get missed for days too

[@Quaila]

Yeah this would foment insurmountable contempt between upperclassmen and the group of new students who get saddled with this deathtrap

[@Meatball2022]

Nonsense. Half of them never open windows or blinds, get blackout curtains, and sleep until 2 pm when they don’t have classes.

[@hyperx72]

@@Meatball2022 What Is this boomer contempt

[@Meatball2022]

@@hyperx72 most college students do their best to imitate vampires.

[@Phase52012]

Munger Hall? One student catches a cold; every student will be sick within 24 hrs.

[@philip8498]

this issue can easily be avoided by taking some more inspiration from the meat industry (i mean, we are already granting a similar amount of space and fresh air to students and industrially farmed pigs so why not go that extra step?) just feed the students large amounts of antibiotics and other drugs to prevent epidemics. you can even filter them in through the air via the centralized ventilation system. its foolproof! or just lace the food sold in the cafeterias and markets on the ground floor with the stuff. same result.

[@MattieAMiller]

I love my grandpa. Incredibly intelligent and clever, he worked as a mathematician for the US army. At 91, he is still surprisingly present and aware, but STILL I would not trust him with addition or even a pair of scissors. I have more faith in leaving my toddler by himself then my grandpa (at least my toddler won't break a hip if he falls). A 99 year old amateur should never have final say on any project like this.

[@seekittycat]

Me: a designer with tight deadlines Behind me: My boss who can look at my screen at anytime. Will come over to give pixel nudging suggestions that he forgets about during meetings and undo those same changes. To the left of me: Event coordinator who's on the phone fake laughing during meetings the whole day. It's her job to be super loud and friendly but oml it's the whole day. To the right of me: A senior artist who's banging on the keyboard because he's convinced if the computer is lagging you just need to press the keyboard harder. He also shakes his leg to music shaking the whole table we're sharing. Somewhere in front: The coffee station shared by the whole floor where everyone is chatting taking a break. Did I mention I have ADHD and is an introvert? I quit and moved to a place where we had dividers and our own desk at least. Covid measures that hasn't been taken down and I hope it never will. When I go to work I don't want to socialize dammit I just need to finish my stuff and go home

[@Turkeysonmywindow]

this was so real... I also worked an art job like this, where on top of having someone watching us from behind, they installed a software to be able to monitor all our screens and program usage from the boss' main computer. it was hell.

[@matiasyannuzzi9655]

You know which covid measures should never be repealed? Remote working being the norm whenever possible.

[@mewf2an]

I have adhd too

[@marcbeebe]

The open-plan office makes it easier for workers to report un-corporate activity among their co-workers! You know; crimes like being an individual instead of a piece of biological machinery. BTW I attended a "no wall" school once which was based on this same premise. It was a horrific experience and utterly did not work. I believe they eventually installed walls, although after I left for more sane environs.

[@marcbeebe]

The parallels to a prison are not coincidental.

[@wellwell7950]

Yeah

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Exactly

[@benfowler1134]

Fordist-Taylorist panopticon. The resemblance to the dystopian prison concept isn't coincidental.

[@NXTangl]

​@@benfowler1134 this is why Foucalt doesn't get taught in grade school.

[@wolf1066]

The excitement of discovering exotic elements from the periodic table... *in your bloodstream* - I laughed so hard that it actually hurt!

[@LoboLakerGaming]

My college dorm had a ground surface area of 14,700 sqft (0.34 acres). The first floor was the lobby, common area, and services, floors 2-5 were living floors. It had a capacity of 214 students in fairly large double rooms (240 sqft). That’s 1 student per 69 sqft of ground space. USBC would be so much better off just building multiple of my dorm buildings. We had large rooms, interior sinks, double beds, and plentiful natural light with tall windows.

[@lzh4950]

Some of my university's hostels have rooftops that're open for residents' use to hang their laundry, & for star-gazing (we also managed to catch a sun eclipse from there in March 2016)

[@drgonzo1971]

I lived in a huge ass dorm (one of the biggest in North America), but we had a shitload of windows and I don't remember feeling any disincentive to socialize. Back then, that was basically all I wanted in my free time.

[@rickmorty7284]

lol....If we're being honest, it's really not too bad considering the huge number of amenities.

[@97riman]

Watty?

[@andrewdiaz3529]

​@@rickmorty7284 amenities that would instantly be ruined by the constant use of thousands of students with deteriorating mental states. The building is also in no way designed to be up to code or follow safety guidelines

[@Hazel1312]

I was born too late to experience the golden age of office buildings. I envy my older coworkers, who have had personal offices.

[@SterbenCyrodill]

Quite frankly, I really like the "Open Space" office that I work in. Granted, I work mostly from home, but I really like it when I'm there, at least once every two weeks. Generally speaking we don't poke on each other's noses, but it is quick and easy when we have to collaborate, which as a programmer, is really important and happens often.

[@ClayChapman0]

But you were born just at the start of the golden age of remote work. Get a job in home office and you have your own personal office, bathroom, kitchen, you name it.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

why you do enevy it . cube where aslo true extrem. you are pretty muhc cuted from the out side world for 8 hours

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Me too

[@wellwell7950]

Zip

[@eeshapatel58]

Humans need actual windows and daily light😂

[@ssik9460]

1:23 as a Bangladeshi I’m proud to say that our sweatshops are so open plan that fires can reach the other side of the building in minutes

[@engelhaust]

I know that as a college student, I certainly don't already have enough stress in my life and am always looking for more ways to feel like money-generating cattle. Having my privacy taken away in college will prepare me for a competitive work environment where my privacy is also taken away.

[@caralho5237]

You will own nothing and be happy. Privacy is the first to go

[@TSmith-yy3cc]

Well I'm sold... on the need for guillotines. To be fair, I was already completely sold on this but it was a fantastic video as usual!

[@seankane8628]

Or piano wire and lampposts

[@theothertonydutch]

@@seankane8628 I think it would be much better to take all their money and then put them all in an office building together and have them work the boring jobs they expected other people to do. Forever.

[@KerythDraws]

We should give every civilian in countries Nestle stole water from a taser and 15 minutes with the CEO

[@philip8498]

hang on, 6,5 sqm for a dorm room? excuse me? pigs in industrial meatfarms will pity you with that amount of personal space.

[@private755]

One of the last office buildings I worked in I specifically requested to be moved to one of the offices from the bull pen because they were giving me more and more complicated assignments and it was increasingly impossible to focus with the cross chatter and distractions that come naturally with uh a completely open office space. All the partners had offices naturally. Luckily I had the requirements so they let me move my desk space. Working from home though is so superior I can never go back to a building.

[@HeisenbergFam]

1:25 "I used to work in open plan offices and they all sucked" My heart goes out to people working boring jobs that make them unsatisfied with life

[@skelly7230]

Thanks its appreciated fr

[@aarliann]

been working part time since 16 and I’m in college now studying mechanical engineering still trying to fund a dream. feels like I’ve almost been on autopilot for years now I can’t wait to start doing shit full time that means something to me. (preferably mechanics)

[@dARkIkO]

Heisenburg knows

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Thanks

[@wellwell7950]

Ek

[@thatguynoonelikes4865]

I don't get anxiety often and I'm not usually very claustrophobic at all but the split second I saw the pictures of those dorms with the fake windows instantly gave me anxiety Something about living in a space like that for most of your college life just seems uniquely terrifying, like you're locked inside, burried alive, Walls slowly closing in The office without walls also seemed pretty terrible, like as somebody who's never worked in an office it always felt hard for me to understand what was so terrible about the regular office with walls, but as soon as I saw the office Without Walls and you describe your experience I could instantly understand how the office Without Walls would be a living hell

[@LS-Moto]

These dorms look worse than prison cells in Germany. That's why it raises anxiety. A cramped small room, without any windows. No comfort in there at all. It looks like a prison. Why would anyone want to live in that.

[@thatguynoonelikes4865]

@@LS-Moto I mean like to be fair prison cells in Germany look 5× better than the average New York apartment And prisons in the US are basically cruel and unusual punishment Lmao But I guess I can understand why Europeans have higher standards then the US when it comes to things like this considering we suck a lot of things in this category

[@bean420man]

Those jail cells, I mean, dorm rooms are horrible. They are so claustrophobic and I don't see how anyone could want to spend any amount of time in one. This is literally asking for a ton of tuition money and telling the students that they are just worthless bags of cash.

[@zimbu_]

Imagine reading a college textbook and pausing to look into the distance to relax the muscles around your eyes, but there's no distance to look into - just the insides of your coffin lit with bright fluorescent light.

[@AkiGames093]

And I can't imagine what those small rooms with no windows are going to smell like. And during the summer that thing is going to be hell (I don't know what type of AC it's going to have but I believe the concept room had a ceiling fan)

[@olive6942]

Really puts things into perspective. I didnt like my dorm experience, but something like this would drive me insane. There is no way to organically make friends, someone like me could probably go multiple days without actually speaking to another human being.

[@Yumypop]

I wish my previous workplace sounded like a 'silent LAN party'. I worked in customer care and some genious figured we should have an open set up office, even though peoples job there is to answer the phone for 8 hours straight. Half of the time I couldn't even focus on my own conversation because I was also hearing the conversations of all those working around me. It's so draining I'd feel physically tired after working even though you constantly sit. I guess the only plus side was that the managers had to work in the open space as well.

[@Archris17]

That's what strikes are for, or keying the boss's car with "Give us silence," or hanging an effigy of them in their office with a knife through its neck. These people thrive on our unwillingness to be rude and blunt.

[@upturnedkangaroo]

Tiny rooms in monolothic towers were tried at the University of Essex with the exact same intention; to get students out of their rooms. It didn't work, even though the rooms have windows. That was 70 years ago.

[@WM-rg2ey]

The irony being that UCSB’s school motto is “Let there be light.”

[@essaboselin5252]

My college dorm was in a building from the late 1800s. It was a crap shoot if you got the side of the building where the radiators didn't work or the side where you couldn't shut them off. But, the rooms were large singles, with actual windows that opened, a large closet which was a surprise given the age of the building and transoms so you could get actual cross breezes going. Oh, and our common rooms had working kitchens.

[@Torthrodhel]

"As an EU citizen I didn't have to pay for my studies" As a British citizen before Brexit, and therefore an EU citizen as well at the time, right when the government went directly against their election promise and reintroduced that, you can't imagine my rage. I have never and will never forgive Blair for that. The lifelong damage done to so many lives, just by that decision alone.

[@BirnieMac1]

As someone with ADHD; holy shit I would not be able to work effectively in an open plan like that I get distracted by literally anything; so much so that I picked up a horrible habit of pulling all nighters studying and accidentally invert my sleep cycle every exam block Edit: Oh god, the more you describe it the worse it sounds That literally sounds like hell

[@absolutewisp]

As someone without ADHD, fairly certain you don't need it to go crazy in this joke of a dorm. Picking between a dystopian 6m2 cubicle that you could theoretically focus in and an open "social" room that actually understands how humans work but is the least productive space imaginable with all the commotion.

[@BirnieMac1]

​@@absolutewisp Tbh kinda reassuring to know it's not just me that finds that kind of setup hell The anxiety of trying to not piss off your colleagues would definitely get me

[@the11382]

I'm autistic, I would get a sensory overload immediately.

[@therealspeedwagon1451]

Me too man. I can barely even work with all of the conditions that I have.

[@KateeAngel]

I can't even imagine sitting at one place for 4 hours straight, then eat and walk a bit and then again sit at one place for 4 hours. Let alone with no privacy. I work in a lab and acually move around during work. And I am extremely introverted. Being around people non-stop is super stressful. Moving also helps to reduce stress, and if I could't do that, that would be bad

[@OneofInfinity.]

Anything to shorten the life spans of the "peasants".

[@n0gulag]

I agree. I’ve never had an office job. I have a hard time picturing what sitting in one all day would be like. The idea makes me want to scream.

[@coorbin]

“Modern open plan” spaces seem to be designed to require you to go to the bathroom every time you need to fart. Nobody is allowed to rip one in peace because you must be crammed in with other humans at all times.

[@RJKilroy]

They literally saw the prison arc in Andor and said “write that down!”

[@flrmedia2494]

I stayed in a capsule hotel for 1 night in Japan and was feeling claustrophobic the entire time. I can't imagine what living in a space this small for an entire semester would be like.

[@grimgoreironhide9985]

I stayed in a capsule hotel for three nights in Wales. There was no windows. It was difficult for me to sleep even though I was tired. I can’t explain it.

[@osakanone]

I give it like a month before students are dismantling the desks and chairs and sneaking couches into their hubs. If there's one thing you can always depend on students to do, its modify a space when its not fit for purpose. They've literally always done it.

[@trianglemoebius]

I give it a month until they're dismantling the desk and chairs because the Kafkaesque design has driven them all insane and they're turning said furniture into clubs.

[@wizzzer1337]

I work in an office like that, and I've got more cluster headache attacks in the two years since this monstrosity has opened than in my entire life. I also got used to working quietly (and more efficently) from home- with great narutal lighting, clean air, good food, no commuting and better socialization. So not only to my horror, I returned to a different office from the previous one, I returned to this grey, brutalist (sorry comrades, not a fan) souless, distracting structure.

[@NerdishNature]

As an architect. Excuse me WHAT.

[@Stupididiot67]

Wdym it’s so sensible

[@yazgaroth]

Last time I had a boss, he said : "OK, I heard your opinion, the new building won't have an open space, because it's not a good thing". First plan of the new building ? MASSIVE OPEN SPACE. Except for the boss, because he can have a room half the size of the open space.

[@TheVirtualObserver]

I literally just visited some friends in Santa Barbara and they mentioned this fiasco without naming the guy. I thought the billionaire who proposed the idea was some young newbie who thought he'd prove himself by building this for UCSB. Instead it was Charlie Munger!! 😂🤣 Truly one of the buildings of all time.

[@AnnekeOosterink]

It certainly is a concept of a building!

[@LostInDub]

Adam Something got me into the Well There's Your Problem podcast & it's become my firm favourite ever since. Thanks Adam!

[@tosterekmoherek654]

I used to work in an open space office and there was a simple reason the company chose that design. By law they were required to have a certain minimum of free floor space per employee in the room where these employees worked. With open space design the corridor also counted as that free floor space so they could fit more employees in the same room.

[@LCCWPresents]

I remember this in the news years ago. The head architect for the university literally resigned in response to the decision of the board of trustees.

[@trancendental5373]

Munger is the ideal villain for a David Lynch movie. Rich, mean-spirited, and endlessly strange.

[@a133m210]

😝someone asked him recently about his children and he replied that hes busy trying to make more

[@MM-NolascoPH]

Thank you so much for this video. I love these videos showing the bad examples with sarcasm and passive aggressive towards the corporates and billionares that didn't care or even cater to everyone involved. It is always a great reminder to not be like them and remind us to whenever or whatever we got blessed with tons of money and power to finance everything, we should always do what's right. If I have my own office or headquarters, I have to man a survey and listen every employees and members what they want and that creates a transparency and trust towards each other.