Developers have built windowless bedrooms in Austin

I have no idea why I would want a window in a bedroom (aside from as a fire exit). It seems more likely to be a nuisance.

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.

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.

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.?

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...

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.

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.

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.

pique capitalism (spelling intentional).