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Proposed Living Space at California University Causes Big Debate

时间:2021-11-18 02:24:29

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Proposed Living Space at California University Causes Big Debate

Businessman Charles Munger recently gave $200 million to the University of California at Santa Barbara, known as UCSB, to help pay for a new student living space. At colleges, students live in buildings called dormitories, or dorms for short.

When complete, the building will be called Munger Hall. The university hopes to open the dorm in late 2025. The school is in Santa Barbara, a small city on the Pacific Coast about 160 kilometers north of Los Angeles.

If the plan continues based on current designs, it will be 11 floors high and provide beds for 4,500 students on a small piece of land. Most of the sleeping areas for students will not have windows. The building only has one large entrance on each side.

The dorm is close to the school's sports fields but far from the rest of the university and the coast. With so many students there, it would be the eighth-most densely1 populated living area in the world, similar to a part of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The building plan became publicly known recently. Many people were surprised by the number of students and the lack of windows, said Matt Poldberg. He has already completed his studies at UCSB.

He said one of the best parts of going to school in Santa Barbara is closeness to the ocean and beautiful areas. Not having windows seemed strange, he said, and being on a piece of land far away from the best parts of the school was strange, too.

"You know, to build such a windowless, joyless-seeming place it seemed like a waste to not have it at least be like 10 steps from the beach like everything else is there."

Munger said the design puts more importance on public spaces. He wants students to spend most of their time away from sleeping areas so they can meet each other and work together. The building will have large cooking, eating and gathering2 spaces.

The project was not getting much attention until October, when one of its architects dropped out, calling it "disturbing."

Dennis McFadden wrote a letter on October 24, calling the project "destructive3 to the campus" and the design "unsupportable." He said he was disappointed that the group of administrators4 and professors studying the project did not object. He said the building was a "radical5 departure from student housing standards."

News organizations such as The New York Times, CNN and The Guardian6 all wrote about McFadden's concerns. Some called the project "dormzilla," after the Japanese movie monster Godzilla.

Munger answered the criticism in early November. He talked with Architectural Record about the project. He said the rooms without windows are "quite endurable," and compared them to the rooms on large vacation boats known as cruise7 ships that do not look onto the water.

He called the building's design safe and able to meet building requirements in California. He said he thinks universities around the United States will build more buildings like Munger Hall.

The UCSB design is similar to a project Munger funded at the University of Michigan. Students have mixed opinions about it.

Why does UCSB need Munger Hall?

UCSB, like much of California, does not have enough low-cost housing. There are more people who want to live in Santa Barbara than the number of homes available. That is a big problem for a university with 25,000 students.

Atmika Iyer writes for The Daily Nexus8, a student newspaper at UCSB. She said there is a housing crisis9 for students. Some students must live far away from campus and drive over an hour to get to school. Others have been known to sleep in their cars. Right now, the university pays hotels so students can live there.

She said one problem is that while the university has been welcoming more students, it has not been building more housing.

While the school sees Munger Hall as an answer, Iyer said most students disagree.

"The general consensus10 among most of the people I've been speaking with is that this isn't a good idea."

UCSB, however, posted a "question and answer" page online recently, and said "we expect Munger Hall...to be highly desirable."

No other choice

Nolan Gray is a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. He studies urban planning. He recently wrote about Munger Hall for Bloomberg news service. He said that the "mega-dorm" with a cost of over $1 billion, may be UCSB's only way out of an "extreme" housing problem.

Because the universities in California are so good, Gray said, schools have no trouble finding students. Because the cities in California are so costly11 to live in, students often share small rooms. Some even have to leave school because they cannot afford to live near their classes.

Gray called Munger Hall "a trade-off," where students get to go to school in a beautiful place in exchange for sleeping in a small, windowless room.

"Living in a dorm is not unlike living in a small apartment in a really nice city, right? When you live in a city, the park is your lawn, the restaurants are your dining room, the bars are your parlors12, the library is your office."

Gray said he thought Munger Hall has a 65 or 70 percent chance of being built at UCSB in the coming years.

"They're probably going to do everything they can to make something like this work," he added.

Iyer said the responsibility for the problem rests not only with the university, but with the state government and the communities close to the university. All three have not done a good job of meeting growing demand for higher education and housing. In addition, Iyer said, there are no other current plans for student housing.

"UCSB is sort of putting all their eggs in this one basket, right? Munger Hall is the only proposed solution thus far."

If Munger's project goes ahead, it will only solve the housing problem for a short time. The school said it is only a "partial fulfillment of our responsibility to our students."

Poldberg, the UCSB graduate, said he thinks students would still rather go to Santa Barbara than to other California schools.

"I would probably pick the windowless dorm," he said.

Words in This Story

architect –n. a person who designs buildings

disturbing – adj. causing people to be upset or worried

radical – adj. very new and different from what is traditional or ordinary

standard –n. a level of quality or accomplishment14 that is considered acceptable15 or desirable

endure – v. to deal with or accept

consensus – n. a general agreement about something; an idea or opinion that is shared by all the people in a group

apartment – n. a (usually) rented room or set of rooms that is part of a building and is used as a place to live

lawn – n. an area of ground (such as the ground around a house or in a garden or park) that is covered with short grass

parlor13 – n. a room in a house or apartment that is used for spending time with guests

to put all your eggs in one basket – expression to place your chance of success on one thing


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1 densely rutzrg     
ad.密集地;浓厚地
参考例句:
  • A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
  • We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。
2 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
3 destructive cvaxr     
adj.破坏(性)的,毁灭(性)的
参考例句:
  • In the end,it will be destructive of our whole society.它最终会毁灭我们整个社会。
  • It is the most destructive storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的一次风暴。
4 administrators d04952b3df94d47c04fc2dc28396a62d     
n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 );有管理(或行政)才能的人;(由遗嘱检验法庭指定的)遗产管理人;奉派暂管主教教区的牧师
参考例句:
  • He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员,但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
  • Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
5 radical hA8zu     
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的
参考例句:
  • The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
  • She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。
6 guardian 8ekxv     
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
参考例句:
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
7 cruise 2nhzw     
v.巡航,航游,缓慢巡行;n.海上航游
参考例句:
  • They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
  • She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。
8 nexus vvHyq     
n.联系;关系
参考例句:
  • Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
  • Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面,消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。
9 crisis pzJxT     
n.危机,危急关头,决定性时刻,关键阶段
参考例句:
  • He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明,在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
  • The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。
10 consensus epMzA     
n.(意见等的)一致,一致同意,共识
参考例句:
  • Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
  • What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
11 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
12 parlors d00eff1cfa3fc47d2b58dbfdec2ddc5e     
客厅( parlor的名词复数 ); 起居室; (旅馆中的)休息室; (通常用来构成合成词)店
参考例句:
  • It had been a firm specializing in funeral parlors and parking lots. 它曾经是一个专门经营殡仪馆和停车场的公司。
  • I walked, my eyes focused into the endless succession of barbershops, beauty parlors, confectioneries. 我走着,眼睛注视着那看不到头的、鳞次栉比的理发店、美容院、糖果店。
13 parlor v4MzU     
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅
参考例句:
  • She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
  • Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店?
14 accomplishment 2Jkyo     
n.完成,成就,(pl.)造诣,技能
参考例句:
  • The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
  • Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标,钱是至关重要的。
15 acceptable NIByZ     
adj.可接受的,合意的,受欢迎的
参考例句:
  • The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
  • Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。

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