Pure Joy Sanctuary

A Regenerative Neighborhood Demonstration Project

Location: Spanaway, Washington

Project Type: Community Planning • Regenerative Development • GIS • Infrastructure Planning • Living Laboratory

Role: Project Director & Community Intelligence Lead

Project Overview

Pure Joy Sanctuary is a 1.25-acre regenerative neighborhood demonstration project located in Spanaway, Washington. More than a residential development, it is an exploration of how neighborhoods can create lasting environmental, social, and economic value by treating housing, ecology, infrastructure, and community as interconnected systems.

The project will transform an existing residential property into a mixed residential neighborhood consisting of an existing home, a detached flex studio, and three thoughtfully designed duplexes connected by shared community spaces, food forests, native landscapes, ecological restoration areas, and outdoor learning environments.

The vision is to demonstrate a replicable model for regenerative neighborhood development that can inspire future communities.

Vision

Pure Joy Sanctuary exists to demonstrate that residential development can create value beyond buildings.

By integrating ecological restoration, Indigenous-informed stewardship, community intelligence, regenerative design, and geospatial technology, the project seeks to become a place where people and nature flourish together.

Our long-term vision is to establish Pure Joy Sanctuary as a Living Laboratory where residents, universities, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and industry partners collaborate to advance regenerative community development through research, education, and innovation.

Geospatial Strategy

GIS serves as the project's decision-support platform.

Current applications include:

Regenerative Framework

Pure Joy Sanctuary is organized around six interconnected pillars.

Ecological Regeneration

Protect and restore native ecosystems while improving biodiversity, forest health, wildlife habitat, soil quality, and long-term ecological resilience.

Community

Create places where neighbors naturally connect through shared gardens, gathering spaces, outdoor learning environments, and collaborative stewardship.

Human Well-being

Design healthy environments that encourage walkability, access to nature, social connection, and physical and emotional well-being.

Learning & Innovation

Develop the site as a Living Laboratory supporting research in biodiversity, climate resilience, GIS, food systems, regenerative design, and community health.

Stewardship

Apply Indigenous-informed principles of reciprocity, ecological restoration, and long-term care for the land.

Cultural Connection

Honor the Coast Salish peoples whose ancestral homelands include this landscape while fostering opportunities for partnership, learning, and environmental stewardship.

Collaboration Opportunities

Pure Joy Sanctuary is intentionally being developed as an open demonstration project.

We are actively seeking collaborators interested in advancing regenerative community development through research, planning, technology, and education.

Current partnership opportunities include:

Universities

Applied research, internships, capstone projects, and long-term monitoring.

Public Agencies

Green infrastructure, housing innovation, climate resilience, urban forestry, and GIS.

Technology Partners

GIS, AI, remote sensing, environmental monitoring, digital twins, citizen science, and data visualization.

Design Professionals

Architecture, planning, engineering, ecology, landscape architecture, and Indigenous stewardship.

Foundations & Philanthropy

Support for ecological restoration, research, educational programming, and Living Laboratory development.