[tiddchristopher]

The room's pretty neat, but I'm having trouble understanding why a college student would put this much effort into something that needs to be torn down at the end of the year. I get the "because I can" hacker attitude, but as someone heading back to school tomorrow, I've got to say I would never put most of that stuff in my room. Hardwood flooring: who has the money to blow on that in college? It's one thing to optimize a room for comfort and utility. It's another to install unneeded gadgets.

[rdl]

Plenty of MIT people stay in the same room for 2-4 years. (usually freshmen were in one room sometimes with a roommate, then if you made compromises you could get a single for years 2 to n (n = 4 or 5 I guess)

[Symmetry]

It really depends on the specific dorm. IIRC you could easily have the same room for 4 years there, more easily than some other dorms. It (and Random where I stayed) tend to have more of a culture of making changes to the rooms and building - like making murals.

[wyclif]

I wouldn't assume he spent a lot of cash on the hardwood floor. Many of the main features-- like the Eames chairs-- were found or repurposed.

[epenn]

I was in the same dorm room from my sophomore year onward. Unfortunately we were required to clear everything out during the summer months, including any similar customizations we had made, otherwise I might have gone all out like this too. It's a great way to make a small room feel like home. Looks very efficiently laid out as well.