When 97-year-old billionaire Charles Munger pledged $200 million to the University of California at Santa Barbara to build a dormitory to ease the student housing shortage, he had one condition: the university must construct a building he designed exactly as he drew it up.
But according to the Santa Barbara Independent, the building Munger designed is a functional disaster. Munger Hall would be an 11-story structure for 4,500 students living in single rooms–only 6% of which would have windows to let in air and sunlight. The building was so bad, an architect who had served on the school’s Design Review Committee for 15 years resigned instead of approving the building.
Munger believes himself to be combination amateur architect and amateur social scientist. He designed the building with the idea that the residents would find their living quarters so dreary, they would be forced into common areas to socialize and collaborate. He likely didn’t account for the need for tranquil personal space.