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February 1997. By May 1997, 36 households were committed, and unit pricing and selections were made. Construction began May 22, 1997. The community was fully subscribed with 40 households by August 1997. By April 1998, the first homes were certified for occupancy, and community members began to move in. Construction was completed in
November 1998, a date the community annually celebrates as its anniversary.
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Members tend to be watchful and keep an eye on the children's safety. Children can safely run, bike, and skate in the pedestrian campus. They can use the outdoor play areas, as well as the kids-, teen-, and game-rooms inside the Common House. Children are encouraged but not required to participate
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Most of the work needed to run
Sunward is done by the members. Maintenance work is broken into small monthly job allocations on a task schedule. These tasks are distributed to all members. Examples include plowing snow, facilitating meetings, tending trees, managing finances, mopping floors, etc.
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The design attempts to balance community life and personal privacy. The community layout and homes were designed with the concept of a privacy gradient, where privacy increases as one goes toward the back of the house. For example, sitting on one's front porch is an invitation to socialize, while
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Shared Common House meals are a defining aspect of the community. They provide an opportunity to keep in touch with the neighbors, deepen relationships, and work together while making the meal and cleaning up afterwards. Dinners take place 3-4 times a week. Each month every member does roughly
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The community is made up of 40 households including single individuals, couples, single parents, young families with children, empty nesters, and unrelated adults, ranging in age from infants to octogenarians. Sunward's members, around 65 adults and 25 children, have a variety of cultures, races,
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Sunward's architecture was designed to encourage interactions and strengthen the connections that are the lifeblood of the community. The structures, in addition to the Common House, include 40 individually owned housing units in a range of sizes and layouts spread across nine buildings, several
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The land sale closed in
November 1996 and the group then began searching for a builder. The core membership group reached 22 households in December 1996. A final site plan was approved in January 1997, and the group grew to 28 households. A builder, Phoenix Contractors, Inc., was selected in
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The Common House includes a large kitchen, a dining room, a living room, children's play spaces, a game room, a teen room, a meeting room, professional offices, an exercise room, guest rooms, a video theater, a laundry room, and a large workshop. U.S. mailboxes and internal mail "cubbies" are
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The built and paved area of about five acres (two hectares) in the middle of the site was formerly a backfilled gravel pit. Sunward's founders chose to build tightly clustered homes on this land, conserving green and open space, and leaving the woods and natural features mostly intact.
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The Common House is the heart of
Sunward community life, where members cook, eat, play, hang out, celebrate, meet, host events, and work together. It is an extension of their individual homes, and it allows residents to live in smaller private homes than they otherwise might need.
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is the official collection of all standing agreements that the community has made. Although the entire community retains the authority to make major decisions, much of the day-to-day business is delegated to standing committees and
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community, Sunward restricts motor vehicles to the eastern periphery of its land, allowing members to visit and children to play in safety on its paths. Shared handcarts for moving material are kept at locations around the campus.
149:. An initial purchase offer was refused because the landowners did not like the cooperative living ideas espoused by the group. In December 1995 a new offer was made and accepted. The early members became developers by forming a
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called Ann Arbor Alpha. An architectural firm, Sunstructures
Architects, was selected in June 1996. Kathryn McCamant and her partner Charles Durrett conducted two workshops to help members design the site plan and Common House.
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woods contains paths, a nature study area, hidden hammocks, and rolling hills, and it forms a large, common "backyard" to the north of the tightly clustered homes. This area is used for relaxation, recreation, and retreat.
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religious and spiritual preferences, sexual orientations, and educational and occupational backgrounds. Being an intergenerational village is an important design goal of the community. Members are known as
Sunwardians.
138:, the architect who popularized the cohousing model in the U.S., to Ann Arbor to conduct a cohousing workshop. Inspired by her workshop, a group began meeting to establish criteria for site selection.
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Sunward's legal structure states that homes are privately owned inside, up to the paint on the interior walls, while the community owns the rest of the structure and everything outside the home.
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Two ponds, part of a tributary system of Honey Creek, with a footbridge and an earthen dam between them, lie to the south of the homes. They are used for ice skating. They are home to
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located in the Common House, providing
Sunwardians opportunities to interact. Outside the Common House are the centers of summer community life: wooden decks and a brick
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work groups. These fall into five main areas: leadership, community life, Common House operations, buildings and infrastructure, and land management.
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two shifts as assistant cook or cleanup crew, or one shift as head chef. The head chef determines the menu and overall cost of the dinner. A
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308:. Community Meetings take place monthly in the Common House. A quorum of at least 21 households must be present to make decisions. The
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option is typically available. In addition to the dinner program, a variety of spontaneous breakfasts, potlucks, and cookouts occur.
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The
Sunward community is managed by its members, who collectively hold decision-making authority. Community decisions are made by
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to Ann Arbor, inspired by successful efforts outside of
Michigan. In January 1994, Nick Meima and other key players invited
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Sunward
Cohousing panorama illustrating greenspace preservation, tightly clustered housing, and parking on periphery, 2003.
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garages individually owned by some households, a large barn built in the woods during the 1910s, and assorted sheds.
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Sunward has its origins in 1993 when Susan Cameron, Donna White and other founders began to discuss how to bring
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The success of Sunward prompted the creation of two more independent cohousing communities in the area,
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283:. The common laundry room is available to all Sunwardians. A team of members cleans the Common House.
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Creating a life together : practical tools to grow ecovillages and intentional communities
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matches and other recreational activities. Located further into the woods is the contested
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have been tended as a native prairie restoration project. A playfield hosts kid-league
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sitting on the back porch does not. Kitchen windows are in the front of every house.
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101:, United States. Sunward's founders were pioneers in bringing the
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Cohousing : a contemporary approach to housing ourselves
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The Sunward site was discovered in July 1995 on the edge of
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of Drainasia, a direct democracy with a population of 5.
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43:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
405:. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
193:) of land with 10-acre (40,000 m) mature
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430:"Sunward Cohousing Prospective Member Packet"
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931:Intentional communities in the United States
428:Sunward Membership Committee (2011-01-10).
326:Members work together to raise a shed, 2001
936:Organizations based in Ann Arbor, Michigan
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260:Social and musical gathering on the piazza
74:Learn how and when to remove this message
435:. Ann Arbor, MI, US: Sunward Cohousing
112:Children playing at Sunward Cohousing
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652:University of Michigan Health System
378:. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press.
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926:1993 establishments in Michigan
557:Concordia University Ann Arbor
345:in the work of the community.
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882:Michigan Anti-Slavery Society
657:C.S. Mott Children's Hospital
151:limited liability corporation
642:St. Patrick's Parish Complex
632:Performance Network Theatre
562:Washtenaw Community College
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877:Ann Arbor Hospital murders
310:Sunward Book of Agreements
185:Sunward is situated on 20
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756:Ann Arbor Business Review
401:Christian, Diana (2003).
837:Transportation Authority
617:Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor
499:Ann Arbor Public Schools
29:This article includes a
669:Veterans Memorial Arena
58:more precise citations.
719:Shakespeare in the Arb
627:Old West Side District
552:University of Michigan
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612:Burton Memorial Tower
536:Rudolf Steiner School
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91:intentional community
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213:. Several acres of
105:model to Michigan.
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743:The Ann Arbor News
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31:list of references
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854:Municipal Airport
820:Signal of Liberty
799:Midwestern Gothic
713:Jazz at Ann Arbor
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372:McCamant, Kathryn
233:Built environment
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50:Please help
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647:Tower Plaza
223:micronation
93:located in
56:introducing
920:Categories
778:Automobile
514:Skyline HS
509:Pioneer HS
439:2018-04-24
365:References
300:Governance
294:vegetarian
247:pedestrian
167:Touchstone
64:April 2018
707:Hash Bash
687:Art Fairs
597:Blind Pig
575:Landmarks
485:Education
306:consensus
207:waterfowl
163:Great Oak
143:Ann Arbor
132:cohousing
103:cohousing
95:Ann Arbor
905:Category
504:Huron HS
421:51840018
394:27935922
374:(1994).
340:Children
191:hectares
99:Michigan
864:History
679:Culture
587:The Ark
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189:(eight
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