• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
FinanceCharlie Munger

Charlie Munger’s plans for a massive college dorm to house thousands of students with almost no windows poses ‘significant health and safety risks,’ report finds

By
Alena Botros
Alena Botros
Former staff writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 21, 2022, 3:02 PM ET
Photo of Charlie Munger.
Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Patrick T. Fallon—Bloomberg/Getty Images

Charlie Munger made headlines last year when news broke that he had designed a massive dorm building with almost no windows that could house 4,500 students. 

It was an unusual move for the billionaire investor and Warren Buffett’s right hand man, which almost instantly invited backlash—a consulting architect quit in protest, and in his resignation letter called the building “unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being.”

Although that plan was modified to nine floors and 3,500 rooms, it appears that the University of California, Santa Barbara, where “Munger Hall” was scheduled to be built, may have more modifications to make. 

An independent panel of UCSB faculty experts, outside stakeholders, and industry leaders reviewed and discussed the proposed plan for five months before delivering their recommendations this week. 

“Research and analysis weighed by this Panel reveal significant health and safety risks that are predictable enough, probable enough, and consequential enough that it would be unwise for UCSB to proceed without significant modifications to the design,” the report reads. 

Dubbed “Dormzilla,” the project was intended to solve the university’s housing crisis driven by an increase in enrollment, and a lack of funding. Notably, Munger announced a donation of $200 million to the school in 2016.

But opposition to the building has been significant. Last year, a group of architecture history professors at UCSB created a petition to halt construction, calling the proposed housing “small windowless cells, without natural light, natural air, or views of the world outside.” 

Munger said he was “intimately familiar with university housing,” because of his experience with his children and grandchildren, in an interview with Architectural Record last year. He appeared to have no problem with the building being mostly windowless, saying: “It’s quite endurable, especially with good ventilation.”

But even with the adjustments to the original plan, the independent panel found “major risks and concerns” it wants the university to address. 

Those include: adding “operable windows” to each multi-bedroom suite and as many bedrooms as possible, increasing the size of single bedrooms to match their current size of other singles within the university’s existing housing, and reducing the building mass and population density. 

The panel cited the risk of COVID-19 transmission and other illnesses, safer evacuation routes, and less of a psychological strain on students linked to living in rooms without natural air or sunlight as a few issues that factored into their recommendations. 

In response to the panel’s findings, the team responsible for the project said in a statement that it’s “actively working” to add additional windows where it’s possible and add additional ventilation shafts that will allow greater airflow.

However, the team said that modifications to the design based on feedback represent a “meaningful challenge and will require thoughtful consideration.” 

Fortune was not able to immediately reach Munger for comment. 

Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter examines how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of today's executives. Subscribe here.

About the Author
By Alena BotrosFormer staff writer
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Alena Botros is a former reporter at Fortune, where she primarily covered real estate.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Retail
Trump just declared December 26th a national holiday. What's open and closed?
By Dave SmithDecember 26, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
As millions of Gen Zers face unemployment, CEOs of Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald's say opportunity is still there—if you have the right mindset
By Preston ForeDecember 26, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Real Estate
Mark Zuckerberg gifted noise-canceling headphones to his Palo Alto neighbors because of the nonstop construction around his 11 homes
By Dave SmithDecember 25, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Investing
Logan Paul auctions off $5.3 million Pokémon card, urging young people to invest more in nontraditional assets: 'Don't be afraid to take a risk'
By Sydney LakeDecember 25, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Billionaire philanthropy's growing divide: Mark Zuckerberg stops funding immigration reform as MacKenzie Scott doubles down on DEI
By Ashley LutzDecember 22, 2025
5 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Trump's tariffs actually slashed the deficit from a record $136.4 billion to less than half that. Here's what else they did
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Paul Wiseman and The Associated PressDecember 26, 2025
21 hours ago

Latest in Finance

Alex Bores stands near a window in the Capitol building
AIdeepfakes
Ex-Palantir turned politician Alex Bores says AI deepfakes are a ‘solvable problem’ if we bring back a free, decades-old technique
By Dave SmithDecember 27, 2025
2 minutes ago
RetailGrocery
Three in four Americans say groceries are so expensive they’ve been forced to cut down on other spending
By Andrew Adam Newman and Retail BrewDecember 27, 2025
1 hour ago
AIData centers
At the edges of the AI data center boom, rural America is up against Silicon Valley billions
By Sharon GoldmanDecember 27, 2025
2 hours ago
research
Cybersecuritydeepfakes
2026 will be the year you get fooled by a deepfake, researcher says. Voice cloning has crossed the ‘indistinguishable threshold’
By Siwei Lyu and The ConversationDecember 27, 2025
3 hours ago
mine
EconomyTariffs and trade
‘You can’t see China now as a reliable supply-chain partner’: Graphite mines forsaken for 70 years come back into fashion
By Michael Hill and The Associated PressDecember 27, 2025
3 hours ago
Investingsilver
Silver prices continue soaring as debt fears and geopolitical tensions send precious metals to fresh record highs
By Jason MaDecember 26, 2025
17 hours ago