Planned windowless dorm at UC Santa Barbara stirs controversy

A Los Angeles architect resigned from UC Santa Barbara’s design review committee over a proposed 11-story dormitory that would house nearly all its 4,500 occupants in small rooms that lack windows, the Washington Post reported.

The proposed dorm is “unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being,” architect Dennis McFadden wrote in his resignation letter.

The dorm was designed by Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who is donating $200 million of the $1.5 billion cost, according to the report. Munger has no formal architectural training, but he has worked on similar projects at Stanford and the University of Michigan.

A university spokeswoman said the project is still on track despite McFadden’s protest.

“We are delighted to be moving forward with this transformational project that directly addresses the campus’s great need for more student housing,” spokeswoman Andrea Estrada wrote in a statement to the Post.