The blank walls of these windowless ... windowless buildings in New York City. The Spring Sheet Salt Shed sits out of place among the luxury apartments that line the west side of lower Manhattan.

But that is not the case. Many UT students rent perfectly legal windowless rooms in brand-new residential buildings mushrooming west of UT’s campus. The transformation of this neighborhood in ...

Julia Mahavier knows this feeling well. The senior at UT Austin rents a windowless bedroom at a private building off campus. JULIA MAHAVIER: I'm waking up and it's completely pitch-black.