Top 18 Questions for People Thinking of Living on North Campus (Renaissance House and O'Keeffe House)
If you're thinking of moving to Renaissance or O'Keeffe (the North Campus Co-ops), you probably
have a lot of questions. See if these help. If not, your next step should be to check out the main ICC Website, the rest of the North Campus FAQ, then to write to one of the house (see the list of available spaces for contact information
for each house), and then to contact the ICC office (address at the bottom of this page).
If you're ready to sign up, follow the directions for membership application!
Renaissance and O'Keeffe have identical rooms and nearly identical food, amenities,
and contracts. They are both made up mostly of graduate students at the University of
Michigan and other schools. They both tend to be quiet, and offer mostly private rooms.
Smoking is not allowed indoors in either O'Keeffe or Renaissance. Renaissance has two suites
(Russell and Karma) where cats are permitted in large singles; cats are not allowed in
O'Keeffe.
About 16-20 people live in each suite. Each has a lounge with a TV and a kitchen (with lots of dishes and cooking implements to share)
for personal cooking. Since a lot of people move
in and out each year, the character of the suites changes constantly.
To learn more, please visit the houses!
See our panoramic views of sample rooms!
Small rooms are almost all 8.5 wide x 10.5 feet deep (2.6 wide x 3.2 meters deep), with one window. A few rooms in corner suites (Karma, Zapata, and Sinclair) have somewhat larger smalls, a few of which have two windows.
Large rooms are all 11 feet wide x 10 feet deep (3.4 meters wide x 3 meters deep), with an additional alcove 7.5 feet wide x 4.5 feet deep (2.3 meters wide x 1.4 meters deep). They're about 1.6 times the size of a small and have two windows.
Double rooms are large rooms shared between two people. You can live with another person of your choice, or have the ICC assign you a roommate (you can request a same-sex roommate).
All rooms come with furnishings. See the section on furniture for more.
Each set of four to five rooms has a "bathroom" (i.e. room with a toilet) and a "shower room" (where the bathtub is). This works out to four of each per suite, or 36 in the building. If you really need to take a shower and somebody else got there first, you can go down the hall and use the next one; people tend to have a preference for their "home" bathrooms, but nobody will mind if you use a different one.
Bathrooms are cleaned weekly, with all of the members of a hallway taking turns cleaning their bathroom. This means that your bathroom will be cleaned every week, and you'll be responsible for the cleaning about once a month. There is a set of cleaning tasks and standards posted in each bathroom, and the keyholder checks to monitor compliance. The bathrooms are generally not exciting to look at, but the weekly cleanings keep them free of trash, stains, and built-up dirt, and stocked with necessities.
From the North Campus of the University of Michigan,
1. Walk or drive up Murfin from Pierpont Commons to the stop sign at the top of the hill, at Hubbard Rd.
2. Turn left on Hubbard, go to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
3. Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
4. Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
Here is a map of the co-op area. We are in the northwest corner of U-M's North Campus—a 10- or 15-minute walk from most buildings—and about 2 miles from Central Campus (a 30- or 40-minute walk). A free university bus runs frequently all day and most of the night and takes you to both the rest of North Campus and to Central Campus. (The bus ride to Central Campus takes about 10 minutes.)
Also see How do I get to the airport?, How do the buses work? and How do I get to Central Campus?
We have a parking lot. If you want a space, you'll need to sign up for one when you sign your contract. For more information, see the main FAQ section on parking.
Ann Arbor is a good place to walk, bike, or take the bus—even in the winter. The general advice for people coming to the area is, "You don't need to have a car, but you'll need to know somebody who has a car." Fewer than half of the North Campus Coops members have cars, and many of those who do drive them only occasionally.
The co-ops are adjacent to the University of Michigan's North Campus, where the engineering, music, and art & architecture schools are located. But you can get to other parts of the campus (including Central Campus) and all around town easily by using the bus service. See How do the buses work?.
Additionally, there is a car cooperative in Ann Arbor that looks to provide use of shared cars (you may be familiar with Zipcar, Flexcar, or Community Carshare if you are from a major city). If there is enough interest in the North Campus Coops, the car coop may station a car at our house in the future. See the Ann Arbor Community Car Coop for more information.
If you do bring a car, keep in mind that Michigan does not have a "Department of Motor Vehicles", so if you ask a native where the DMV is, you'll get a blank stare. In Michigan, cars are registered with the Secretary of State, and must be re-registered every year. There is a Secretary of State office in a mall at Jackson and Maple on the west side of town, another in the Arborland mall on Washtenaw, and another in Chelsea, which is 20 miles west of Ann Arbor on I-94, but which tends to have significantly shorter lines than either of the Ann Arbor offices.
Your charges include free wireless broadband and access to house computers. See the links for more information.
For television, we have the "America's Top 200" package from DISH Network (200 channels!).
Mostly graduate students, but some younger and older folks as well. There are a lot of engineers, urban planners, and musicians, but many disciplines are represented.
For more about house culture see the rest of the North Campus FAQ, especially How social do I have to be?
Part of cooperative living is sharing the work necessary to keep the house running. Some of this work keeps our costs down (like doing most of our building maintenance ourselves), but in general the purpose is to employ division of labor to reduce the amount of work that everybody has to do.
In the North Campus Co-ops, each member is required to contribute four hours of labor each week, as well as a small amount of additional labor at various points (generally about ten hours per semester). Your friends might think that having to work for your house is a horrible arrangement, but you should ask them how much time they spend each week making dinner and washing dishes. In the co-op, you may spend three hours each week washing dishes, but you have other people making dinner and washing dishes for you every other night of the week. You may have to clean the bathroom once in a while, but it will be cleaned for you the rest of the time. Not a bad way to live.
For more information, see What are the work requirements?
No. We're mostly well-behaved grad students and it's rare to hear anything louder than an energetic conversation. Sometimes people watch TV or play music, but if you're trying to sleep they'll usually turn it down as soon as you ask. When we have parties we use the basement, which is separated from your room by a very thick concrete floor.
It's pretty safe. We have occasional thefts by outsiders, but there's never been any severe or violent crime.
For more information, see Are the co-op and its surrounding areas safe?
Yes, please! Come visit us around a mealtime (5:30-7:00 PM in Renaissance; 6:00-7:00 PM in O'Keeffe) so you can meet some of your future housemates. Then you can get a tour. Call the office (contact information at bottom of page) or write to the house president/chair (see the list of available spaces for contact information) to schedule a visit. You only need to schedule one visit to tour both O'keefe and Ren.
Usually you can't. House officers don't have the authority to show off rooms while people are still living there, so if there's someone in your room we can't show it off (you'll probably be thankful for this once you're living here...). You can see a room of the same size, and all the rooms are very similar on the inside.
Air conditioners are fairly unnecessary in Ann Arbor--the temperature will only exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit for about two weeks every summer. Shades to block direct sunlight and fans will keep you comfortable most of the time.
If you do feel a need for an air conditioner, there is an extra charge for its use, as air conditioners are seen as "extras" that use a lot of electricity. This charge is a flat fee of $50 for the entire season.
See also How do I keep my room cool?.
We follow the University of Michigan semester system, but the dates are slightly different. We have four semesters: Winter (January through April), Spring (May and June), Summer (July and August), and Fall (September through December). Exact contract dates are determined by the ICC office.
The North Campus Coops have a fairly spacious indoor bike room that members may keep their bikes in. There are also outdoor bicycle racks to lock bikes at. Bikes should not be locked to trees or kept in stairwells. All bikes should be locked up, and shold be marked with your name and room number. The bike room and outdoor racks are cleaned out once or twice a year during work holiday, and unlabeled bikes will be considered abandoned and will be removed.
You must register your bike at the Ann Arbor City Clerk's Office. Not only is it a city law, but it will increase the chance of getting a stolen bike returned to you.
More information on biking in Ann Arbor:
The house does not currently have a guff bike system.
When you're first visiting or moving into the house, the building will be very confusing. The nine suites (five in O'Keeffe, four in Renaissance) are arranged in a "U" shape around a central courtyard. To find a suire for the first time, walk into the courtyard from the parking lot, and turn right on the paved path that rings the courtyard. As you walk along the path, you will pass the suites in the following order:
- Falstaff / 1518 Gilbert (bearded man painted on the door)
- Karma / 1516 Gilbert (yellow 8-ball painted on the door)
- Russell / 1514 Gilbert
- Valhalla / 1512 Gilbert (valkyrie and word "Valhalla" painted on the door)
- Zapata / 1510 Gilbert
- Bag End / 1508 Gilbert (round wooden hobbit-door painted on the door)
- Sinclair / 1506 Gilbert
- Walden III / 1504 Gilbert
- Trantor-Mir / 1502 Gilbert (psychedelic butterfly painted on the door)
Once you've found your suite, walk up and ring the bell.
MapQuest directions will work too, but they're harder to follow because of the way the roads turn.
From Central Campus or downtown Ann Arbor by car:
- Find the intersection of Huron St. and Glen St. If you don't know where this is, get on Huron and head towards the smokestacks--Glen intersects Huron right next to the power plant and the Power Center theater.
- Take Glen away from the power plant; Glen will turn into Fuller Rd. at the first light.
- Continue on Fuller to Maiden Lane (the next light after Fuller).
- Turn left on Maiden Lane and go to Broadway Rd./Plymouth Rd.
- Turn right (onto Plymouth) and go to Murfin Rd. (the second light)
- Turn right on Murfin and go to the stop sign at Hubbard Rd.
- Turn right on Hubbard, go to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
From Central Campus by University of Michigan Bus, summer:
- Get on the Northwood/North Campus bus (stops at C.C. Little and the Power Center)
- Take the bus to North Campus, past the first stop at Pierpont Commons.
- IMPORTANT: before 7 pm, the bus will turn right at the top of the hill; after 7 pm, the bus will turn left at the top of the hill.
- If the bus turns left, get off at the first stop after it turns, at "Baits II".
- Walk forward (relative to the bus) from the bus stop to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
- If the bus turns right, get off at the first stop after it turns, on Hubbard Rd.
- Walk back to the stop sign at the corner of Hubbard and Murfin. Continue straight on Hubbard to the next stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
From Central Campus by University of Michigan Bus, fall/winter:
- Get on the Bursley-Baits bus (at C.C. Little or the Power Center)
- Take the bus to North Campus, and ride past the first two stops, at Pierpont Commons and at the NCRB.
- Get off at the third stop on North Campus, "Baits II".
- Walk forward (relative to the bus) from the bus stop to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
From Detroit and Detroit Metro Airport (DTW):
- Take I-94 west to US-23. Take US-23 north to Plymouth Rd.
- Take Plymouth Rd. east (left at the top of the exit ramp) about two miles to Murfin Rd.
- Turn left on Murfin and go to the stop sign at Hubbard Rd.
- Turn right on Hubbard, go to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
From western Michigan and Chicago:
- Take I-94 east to M-14. Take M-14 east to Barton Dr.
- Take Barton Dr. south (left at the end of the exit ramp) to its end at Plymouth Rd. Barton curves a lot--be sure to stay on Barton and not go off on a side street.
- Turn left on Plymouth and go to the first light, at Murfin Rd.
- Turn right on Murfin and go to the stop sign at Hubbard Rd.
- Turn right on Hubbard, go to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
From Ohio and points beyond
- Find US-23 (it intersects I-80--the Ohio Turnpike--in Toledo)
- Take US-23 north to Ann Arbor's Plymouth Rd. exit (about 50 miles north of Toledo)
- Take Plymouth Rd. east (left at the top of the exit ramp) about two miles to Murfin Rd.
- Turn left on Murfin and go to the stop sign at Hubbard Rd.
- Turn right on Hubbard, go to the stop sign at Baits Dr.
- Turn right on Baits, go to Gilbert Ct. (right after the large open field)
- Turn right on Gilbert--Gilbert ends in our parking lot.
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North Campus Coops FAQ
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