Experience a Munger Hall Model House

Aiming to provide an up-close look at the building’s design and lifestyle benefits, and to get feedback from the campus community, UC Santa Barbara is offering scheduled tours of a mock-up of one house within Munger Hall, a planned new residence for students.

“We built the full-scale model apartment as a way to try out different designs for the rooms,” said Gene Lucas, former executive vice chancellor, who is serving as part of the Munger Hall project team. “With the knowledge that mockups help people see what the architects have in mind much better than just a drawing on paper, we also wanted to offer tours. Once you see it, you better understand it.”

Tours were slated to begin in 2020, but plans were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The severe housing shortage across California and in Santa Barbara is acutely affecting students and the community at large. Munger Hall would be one way to help to address the current challenge students face in finding affordable local housing. A planned student housing development project, it would increase existing university housing capacity by more than 30 percent.

Munger Hall also will help UC Santa Barbara address the demand for safe, affordable, on-campus housing. It was designed as a to provide new affordable housing options for second-, third- and fourth-year students with a strong desire to be a part of a communal living environment, but who also are interested in the privacy afforded by single-occupancy bedroom.

The cost of a single bedroom in Munger Hall will be required to be 20-30% below the market rate for housing in Isla Vista, where most students live with multiple roommates in each bedroom. It will offer more square feet per student than other campus residence for undergraduate students and give the university critically needed housing capacity.

The goal of Munger Hall is to provide every student with a single bedroom; promote community and collaboration; and develop bonds among students. The residence will address current enrollment levels and will not be used to increase campus enrollment.

Meant to elicit feedback from the campus community, the tours are currently available by registration to university students, faculty and staff members. Each tour accommodates 10-15 people and is about 45 minutes in length. Electronic surveys will be sent out to participants following their tours.

For more information or to register, visit https://sam.ucsb.edu/campus-planning-design/current-projects/munger-hall.