Snoqualmie partners with UW design students for conceptual architecture and design

Published 9:30 am Thursday, April 14, 2016

The city of Snoqualmie has sponsored the University of Washington’s Storefront Studio design program for the spring quarter of 2016.

Ten University of Washington students will be collaborating to create a book of conceptual design and architecture for Snoqualmie and will have a display of their designs in a Snoqualmie storefront.

Staff from the city, along with business owners and citizens in the community met with the students on Friday, April 1, to discuss the project. Some of the stakeholders that attended the event include the Salish Lodge, the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce, Northwest Railway Museum, Carmichael’s, Snoqualmie Brewing Company, and Sigillo Cellars.

Part of UW’s Department of Architecture, Storefront Studio is a program to give students experience with real communities, businesses and budgets. They produce sketches, renderings and ideas for businesses interested in remodels.

Snoqualmie Community Development Director Mark Hofman said the students are going to hold a series of open houses at city hall and will have a storefront downtown in which they will display their designs and take comments and feedback from the community. The location has not yet been determined.

“While there are no sketches or anything at this point we will work out that final location,” Hofman said.

Hofman explained that the city is not guiding them, but letting the students’ perspective on the city lead them.

“We want them to come here, put their eyes on it, experience it,” he said. “What the community gets out of it is new ideas, architectural perspectives from some very bright students and the kickoff meeting was to introduce them to the main stakeholders in the community. They stayed at the Salish Lodge to get a feel for the Falls and the specialness of that area.”

Hofman said the first open houses will begin within the next three weeks.