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I’m surprised this meets Building Code. I thought bedrooms had to have two ways of escape, one being a door and the other a window. Dormitories rooms are bedrooms so they should be subject to the code requirements. I do think that this is pretty shortsighted and bad architecture. 20 years from now the school officials will be asking “What were we thinking?” Jay
Windowless seems too restrictive and depressing. I stayed in a windowless airport hotel room and it was depressing. I suppose that makes some sense for odd layovers and jet lag.
I get the whole conceptual, psychological, cocoon concept… bedroom is for sleeping; do everything else outside of the bedroom. It’s communal, interactive, and space saving (high density). It almost sounds communist- a great environment for an expanding mind, no?
One can only imagine what would be the outcome of a 4:00am 3 alarm fire on the third floor!!!
And who in their right mind would follow an amateur architect? Oh wait; never mind- some idiot regents at Michigan University did! And so did the state and local building code officials!
Well the dorm rooms are better than I have seen on troopships and submarines. This would be perfect for re-using those big underground quarries they have near Kansas City that they have set up for warehouses and distribution centers. The design looks like a large underground facility that a friend was stationed at. They went down for 30 days at a time. He considered himself lucky. The other choice was a 90 day rotation on a submarine.
But for a college, in a city where you have fire codes and such? Nope can't see it.
For clarification- bedrooms require egress when unsprinkled. The logical answer is an operable window with a minimum size. But if you sprinkle the building and have fire separations you do not need the individual egress. This is how hotels and high rise residential buildings get away with fixed (non-operable) glass windows.
SO meeting code is no problem but this is a can of worms in terms of livability. I was invovled in a dorm project once where the bedrooms did not have exterior windows -but (big but) they had interior windows into the common room of a suite which had exterior windows. So the students still had some light and as importantly they had site lines to the exterior. Think of the typical NY loft conversions of old or a lot of junior apartments- big open room with ton of windows on the exterior and bed area opening to that.
The irony is that the green building standards actually encourage require sunlight and this building sits above a coastal view totally ignoring it. I think MidValleyDad gives s good assessment but would add fire codes are in palce wherever a building is constructed. And an underground suite would be well served by a light shaft or two.
Windowless seems too restrictive and depressing. I stayed in a windowless airport hotel room and it was depressing. I suppose that makes some sense for odd layovers and jet lag.
I agree. Decades ago we stayed in an expensive room at the Awhahnee Hotel in Yosemite Park. There wasn't a single window in the room. It did have a windowed door that opened onto a shared balcony, so safety was not an issue. Nevertheless, the room felt dark and dreary. It, too, could have been depressing, but fortunately, everything outside the room was beautiful, both within the hotel and throughout the glorious park.
I agree. Decades ago we stayed in an expensive room at the Awhahnee Hotel in Yosemite Park. There wasn't a single window in the room. It did have a windowed door that opened onto a shared balcony, so safety was not an issue. Nevertheless, the room felt dark and dreary. It, too, could have been depressing, but fortunately, everything outside the room was beautiful, both within the hotel and throughout the glorious park.
Depressing but only for a few days.
Imagine lonely freshman, first time away from home, trying to adjust to a new environment and feeling depressed. Spending hours alone in his room while he tries to study. A common problem among college freshmen. Having no sunlight or outside views won't help his depression.
Hmm. What I remember of my university housing is the smell. The smell of people cooped up living together. It wasn't bad because we had windows and doors aplenty. But if no one has windows, just think how horrible the dorm will stink, especially the tiny closed up bedrooms with no windows. Especially the male rooms.
Still don't understand how this passed local code.
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