A pedestrian core, a community center on the city’s King Street lot, and a hotel on stilts were all part of a proposed grand design of Snoqualmie’s Storefront Studio project, presented at Snoqualmie City Hall Friday, June 3. Not all of the ideas were big, though, or expensive.

One, in fact, was free — a proposed network of Little Free Libraries throughout downtown, since the official city library was relocated to Snoqualmie Ridge in 2009. Another was inexpensive, but had to wait. Economic Development Director Mark Hofman wished that a series of fun facts printed on a future walkway connecting downtown with Snoqualmie Falls, could be done today.

King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert declared that she found her bench, a sprawling fixture with built-in bookshelf.

Resident Carol Peterson also found lots of small details to appreciate, saying “I think people want to go to places that add charm.”

The architects of these designs, developed over the past several months in the University of Washington’s Storefront Studio program, were 10 seniors pursuing degrees in architecture.

Storefront Studio is a program that let students work with a city to design new concepts for economic revitalization.

UW student Alex Roth said the experience of working in Snoqualmie was helpful due to the initial feedback they got at their first meeting in town.

“We had a stake holder meeting where we listen to a bunch of the community members about things that they said they wanted. We tackled those projects in small groups and did what we could to explore each of the problems and come up with various solutions we thought could work.” he said. “Getting one on one feedback is really cool and not something we have been able to do in school. This is the first (studio) where we have really been able to talk to our clientele and all of the community members.”

Professor Jim Nichols emphasized stakeholder input, saying, “If they feel like we drew up their ideas, they’re more invested.”

Investment will be necessary for any of the proposed changes to happen, too. Nichols noted that the potential funding sources for many of the proposed Snoqualmie improvements would be grants and partnerships, similar to the way that the Storefront Studio operates, in partnership with the King County Historic Preservation program.

The Storefront Studio program will be producing a book featuring all of their Snoqualmie designs and will be available for purchase or free digital download from http://storefrontstudio.org.