Developers have built windowless bedrooms in Austin(kut.org)
kut.org
Developers have built windowless bedrooms in Austin
https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-04-17/developers-have-built-thousands-of-windowless-bedrooms-in-austin-now-the-city-may-outlaw-them
20 comments
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Bedroom windows are a sleep hygiene problem for anyone who doesn't plan to wake up at dawn year round. I've installed blackout curtains as I moved, but they don't work all that well.
Yeah I live in a virtually windowless bedroom because of noise, light, and air pollution problems making me block off the windows.
Whenever I need sun I go outside. Or usually I’m at work where there are massive windows and great views of the city.
Whenever I need sun I go outside. Or usually I’m at work where there are massive windows and great views of the city.
Wow, the comments in this thread are super confusing. They seem to be largely around, "windows are a luxury, not having one is a first-world problem, who wants one anyway?"
Is this the same community that champions human-centered design and architecture, a la Christopher Alexander, Jane Jacobs, etc.?
Is this the same community that champions human-centered design and architecture, a la Christopher Alexander, Jane Jacobs, etc.?
Funny, my son lives in one of those. I warned him, but he said it wouldn't bother him. It is now bothering him.
> Building codes adopted by the city do not require natural light in apartment bedrooms, and developers have been designing and constructing windowless bedrooms since at least 2002. The majority of these rooms appear to be in student housing
Charlie Munger donated most of the money to build this awful dorm at the University of Michigan:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/02/business/munger-residences-mi...
Plans for a similar building at UC Santa Barbara were fortunately scrapped:
https://www.independent.com/2023/11/09/goodbye-dormzilla-hel...
Charlie Munger donated most of the money to build this awful dorm at the University of Michigan:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/02/business/munger-residences-mi...
Plans for a similar building at UC Santa Barbara were fortunately scrapped:
https://www.independent.com/2023/11/09/goodbye-dormzilla-hel...
The question is how many fewer bedrooms would be available now if these rules had been in place years ago, and what would that do to the price of rent and the rate of homelessness. And ask a homeless person if they'd prefer to be on the streets or live in a windowless bedroom.
> And ask a homeless person if they'd prefer to be on the streets or live in a windowless bedroom.
Many homeless can and do choose the streets over shelters even at severe risk of dying to exposure, for reasons often involving schizophrenia and the many hazardous inmates around.
So I’m not really keen on the argument that letting developers create anti-human structures would magically result in loads more useful structures for the homeless. That argument continues to completely ignore what the homeless need.
If I wanted elevated student suicides and mental health issues, and increased homeless deaths to cold, windowless prison cells sounds like a great candidate to try.
Many homeless can and do choose the streets over shelters even at severe risk of dying to exposure, for reasons often involving schizophrenia and the many hazardous inmates around.
So I’m not really keen on the argument that letting developers create anti-human structures would magically result in loads more useful structures for the homeless. That argument continues to completely ignore what the homeless need.
If I wanted elevated student suicides and mental health issues, and increased homeless deaths to cold, windowless prison cells sounds like a great candidate to try.
I am quite surprised people would want to sleep in a windowless bedroom? But I guess it makes sense considering the light pollution.
I prefer waking up from the sunlight though, so I can’t imagine being in a room with no windows.
I prefer waking up from the sunlight though, so I can’t imagine being in a room with no windows.
They say you shouldn't spend time in your bed anyway save for sleeping. So if the bed is the only thing in the room I guess it's better to have no windows
This is great. Some people like windows, some people have no use for them. It's good to have choices in the market for what people want to spend their money on.
In today’s world there are choices but the choice is made by those in power “for us”, so we don’t even need to worry about making a choice. They say you want windows, huge lawns, low rise buildings and planty of parking space. If you can’t afford it you go homeless.
Or you could move elsewhere if you can't afford to develop something custom. There is no entitlement to someone else's property.
Exactly so if I buy a piece of land, I should be able to build whatever the hell I want on it. Right?
pique capitalism (spelling intentional).
This article and the underlying politics seems to be confused because it's confusing a bedroom and a living space. For college dorms obviously that's likely to be the same thing. But the problem here is arising from not having windows in a living space (e.g. where someone studies), not a bedroom.
If this proposed regulation (no comment on if it's a good idea) were to make any sense it should be saying "areas of an apartment where people are likely to spend a lot of time not sleeping should have a window", not areas intended for sleeping. If the apartment is one room those might be the same thing, of course. If I had an apartment with one bedroom and one other room, I'd rather have the window in the other room.