January 13, 2014

New lodge gets ready at Snoqualmie

Photos courtesy of Urbanadd/Ryan Rhodes Designs [enlarge]

Snow is finally falling in the mountains and the Summit at Snoqualmie is finishing a new ski lodge next to the Silver Fir Express chair lift at Summit Central.

Crews have been working on Silver Fir Lodge for about 10 months, according to architect Jim Brown of Urbanadd in Seattle.

Urbanadd designed the 10,000-square-foot lodge in collaboration with Ryan Rhodes Designs of Seattle. The lodge will house retail space as well as ski and snowboard rentals, lockers and other services on the ground floor. Above that will be a cafeteria, bar and dining hall.

Brown said it is designed to LEED gold standards, but won't seek certification. Green elements include natural daylighting, hydronic floor heating that extends outside to a new plaza, and a roof designed to hold — not shed — snow for insulation.

[enlarge]

The membrane roof has a design load of 450 pounds per square foot enabling it to handle a typical snowpack of 7 feet. The roof was beefed up by closely spacing the glu-lam beams. Brown said another benefit of the flat roof is that snow won't fall on unsuspecting skiers below.

The architects had to follow strict design requirements since the wood-frame building is on Forest Service land. A stone base on the lodge was used to visually connect the building to the mountain, Brown said.

Urbanadd's team includes Mark Ward, and Michael Smith is on Ryan Rhodes' team. BTL Engineering is the structural designer.

The Summit at Snoqualmie is acting as its own general contractor.

Snow has been slow to accumulate this season so the resort was open last weekend with limited operations. The website says it typically opens between mid-November and the first week of December.