decmyk: This week a mostly windowless university dormitory block caused controversy

Exterior of the UC Santa Barbara Munger Hall dormitory

This week on Dezeen, a proposed university dormitory at the University of California was criticised for housing 90 per cent of its 4,500 students in windowless rooms.

Global attention was drawn to the building after architect Dennis McFadden stepped down from a University of California committee in protest of the design, which was conceived by billionaire donor Charles Munger.

In response to the criticism of the project, Munger explained in an interview that the project was created to be an improvement of Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation in Marseille and that the decision to use virtual windows rather than actual windows was informed by Disney Cruises.

A visual of From Now to Then: Library of Speculations by The Why Factory — "What if we create a new layer on the Earth that incorporates growing human habitation and consumption?" asks Winy Maas

Dezeen 15 kicked off this week. As part of the festival to celebrate Dezeen's 15th birthday later this month, 15 creatives are proposing ideas that can change the world over the next 15 years.

This week saw designer Es Devlin, Amber Slooten of digital fashion brand The Fabricant, architect Winy Maas, architects Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi of Cave Bureau and Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari present their manifestos.

Norman Foster during a talk at COP26 — Norman Foster calls for "higher standards" on embodied carbon at COP26

This week also saw the COP26 climate conference begin in Glasgow. At the event, Norman Foster called for "higher standards" on embodied carbon, while Bjarke Ingels said a "hedonistic" future could be better for the environment.

As part of our daily coverage we also reported on an installation created by Morag Myerscough and the centre piece of the Build Better Now virtual pavilion, designed by architecture studio Make.

Five Eames Office highlights from the 80 Years of Design exhibition

An exhibition to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Charles and Ray Eames establishing Eames Office opened this week in Japan.

To mark the occasion Eames Demetrios, who is the grandson of the Eameses and director of the studio, shared his highlights from the 80 Years of Design exhibition.