Storefront Studio “Vashon” Spring Kick-off Meeting

The Storefront Studio is dedicated to investing the academic capital of the UW College of the Built Environments in partnership with the social capital of local communities and the economic capital of King County. The goal is to identify the existing physical, cultural and historical assets of a community and provide preservation and development strategies for strengthening community character, economic growth and social interaction.

Starting Friday, March 30, and running for two months the project team will host a series of public open houses, exhibits and information exchanges on Vashon in order to develop a visual analysis of the town and nearby areas. Through archival research, photographic documentation and digital collages the students will generate before-and-after streetscapes and individual building renovation proposals. An asset map will be prepared identifying opportunities for preserving historic character and promoting cultural tourism and economic development.

Business owners, property owners and residents are encouraged to actively participate in shaping and influencing the students’ work by recommending projects to tackle and providing feedback in the course of project development. The ideas will be illustrated with computer-altered photographs of individual buildings and entire streetscapes.

The open house venue of the storefront, combined with the speed and relative low cost of digital printing, means that a fully illustrated public exhibition will be mobilized in a short period of time. If only briefly, the studio becomes a fully wired, fully engaged public process, where the architecture students unlock the door, sweep the sidewalk, and open for business – at the end of the day they will leave behind an array of strategies for enriching the community.

Friday, March 30
Fire & Rescue Building
10020 SW Bank Rd
5:30 – 7:30 PM