Architect Resigns from Billionaires Psychological Experiment

Published: Nov. 8, 2021, 7 p.m.

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Charles Munger isn\\u2019t as well-known as Warren Buffett, for whom he has long served as right-hand man at the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.

But the 97-year-old, like the Oracle of Omaha, is a Nebraska native, a billionaire in his own right, and a prodigious philanthropist.

He is also, apparently, something of an amateur architect. And his hobby and his financial largesse have combined to spark controversy in his adopted Southern California home.

Five years ago, Munger announced he would donate $200 million toward a new building to alleviate a housing crunch at the University of California-Santa Barbara \\u2014 on the condition that his blueprints be followed exactly.

Details weren\\u2019t disclosed at the time, but they\\u2019re available now: the $1.5 billion Munger Hall would be the largest dormitory in the world, an 11-story block that would house up to 4,500 students in small, single-occupancy rooms \\u2014 the vast majority without windows.

The university, according to the Santa Barbara Independent, described \\u201cCharlie\\u2019s Vision\\u201d as one in which students would be encouraged to leave their tiny rooms and mingle with others in the building\\u2019s common areas.

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