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In the past few years, the city of Austin, Texas, has approved the construction of in new apartment buildings next to The University of Texas at Austin.
Most of these rooms are being leased to UT students, resulting in a .
In April 2024, the Austin City Council finally .
As a , I see this ban as a belated but welcomed development. For 25 years, I have given my students an assignment called 鈥淢y Window,鈥� where I ask them to draw a section of the window in their bedroom. In 2021, some students started to tell me that they did not have a window in their room.
I was shocked because, as a practicing architect, I had always assumed that windowless bedrooms were illegal. Some students started to share with me photographs of their rooms and what dozens of students have described as their terrible experiences living in them.
Adverse effects on mental health
A common complaint is 鈥渕essed up circadian cycles鈥� and the development of 鈥渄epression and fatigue.鈥� They try to avoid their rooms as much as possible. One student told me about experiencing 鈥渦nbearable loneliness and claustrophobia caused by the four solid walls.鈥� Another one lamented waking up 鈥�.鈥�
As soon as I learned that windowless bedrooms were being built in Austin, I started advocating to ban them. I have asked the City Council to act, via and . I have educated myself on the issue and shared my views with architects, professors and students in multiple venues.
Students have mobilized, too. In the spring of 2023, they ran to compare students鈥� experiences living in rooms with and without windows. Students who lived in rooms without windows scored lower in all the categories on a .
In a September 2023 [letter to Austin鈥檚 City Council], 762 students demanded a ban on windowless rooms. 鈥淥ur city鈥檚 negligence to defend its citizens is being weaponized by developers as a means of profit,鈥� they wrote. They also pointed out that windowless rooms are illegal in cities such as New York City and Madrid.
Not legal elsewhere
Indeed, in New York City 鈥� as in major cities around the world 鈥� windowless bedrooms are illegal. A percentage of the room鈥檚 floor area, set in each city鈥檚 building code, determines the minimum window size. In New York City, every bedroom must have a window area the size of the room鈥檚 floor area; in Madrid, 12%; and in Mexico City, 15%.
In Austin, the number has been 0% until the recent ban.
Why? There is a simple reason: Austin, like most cities in the U.S., follows the International Building Code, and this code has a glaring loophole. Its states: 鈥淓very space intended for human occupancy shall be provided with natural light by means of exterior glazed openings in accordance with Section 1204.2 or shall be provided with artificial light in accordance with Section 1204.3.鈥�
The code then goes into great detail on the specific requirements for each situation. But the word 鈥渙r鈥� leaves the door open for some developers to interpret the code to mean that natural light is optional.
To protect themselves against those developers, cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., have closed the loophole by simply replacing 鈥渙r鈥� with 鈥渁nd鈥� in their adopted codes. Austin is finally doing precisely that. The recently approved bedrooms when it takes effect on May 20, 2024.
Putting profits first
Unfortunately, developers have already exploited the loophole and built thousands of windowless bedrooms that soon will no longer be legal to build but will be legal to continue to be leased.
Windowless rooms for students in Austin. Moreover, during my two-year campaign to ban windowless rooms, no developer has spoken in their favor in front of the Austin City Council.
They have been quietly building them for as long as they have been able to because student housing is , and more so when windowless rooms are allowed.
How come? Because a bulky building, with interior rooms away from the facade, can capture more interior space with a smaller ratio of exterior walls, which are more expensive to build than interior walls.
A vulnerable population
Namratha Thrikutam, a UT architecture student, sums up the predicament of her peers living in windowless rooms: 鈥淪tudents are a population that developers know they can take advantage of.鈥�
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have as much money. We don鈥檛 have as much standing in the world. We don鈥檛 have as much experience about things that we鈥檝e been through, so it鈥檚 very easy to take advantage of us,鈥� she , UT Austin鈥檚 official newspaper.
Lured by the proximity to campus, students in windowless rooms with abundant room decoration, circadian rhythm LED lighting, mental therapy or medication.
For example, an who had unknowingly leased a windowless room contacted me asking for help. She told me that, being illegal in her hometown of Barcelona, it never crossed her mind that the room she had leased before arriving in Austin could be windowless.
She described her anxiety and deteriorating mental health after just a few days in her unit. When I wrote on her behalf to her building manager requesting a room with a window, they responded: 鈥淲e do not promise windows in any of our rooms. Like other buildings in the Austin area, windows are not promised.鈥� Shockingly, their leases do not disclose the absence of windows either.
Much like immigrants in New York City鈥檚 , UT students have been left to fend for themselves. Austin has failed them by approving the construction of thousands of windowless units.
UT, a , has failed them by and by remaining silent during the campaign to ban windowless rooms. The university鈥檚 position is based on the fact that West Campus 鈥渇alls under the city of Austin鈥檚 jurisdiction,鈥� according to a statement obtained by The Conversation.
My position is: Yes, but these are your students asking for help.
And architects have failed students by willingly designing windowless rooms. In doing so, architects have ignored one of the of the American Institute of Architects: 鈥渢o consider the physical, mental, and emotional effects a building has on its occupants.鈥�
Changes sought
The experiences of students living in windowless rooms in Austin should serve as a cautionary tale for authorities who control building codes. If windowless rooms are already illegal in your city, keep it that way. If they are not, ban them as soon as possible. If not, students and other vulnerable populations such as immigrants, seniors and low-income people would always be a potential target for developers.
In the meantime, and to protect these populations, I am working with other concerned architects across the U.S. in closing the loophole at the source, by directly modifying the International Building Code instead of assuming that each city will close it by amending their codes locally, as Austin just did.
It is a slow and bureaucratic process, but, ultimately, the message should be clear: Having natural light in buildings should be a human right, not a developer鈥檚 choice.
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