College, San Francisco Firm Creating Public Art Downtown

As part of work with community partners to help make Grinnell even more inviting for visitors and newcomers, Grinnell College has contracted with architecture and design firm Hood Design to create a public art piece on the vacant lot at the southeast corner of Iowa Route 146 and U.S. Highway 6. 

 The vision is to create a landmark piece that beautifies the area, while capturing and celebrating the unique character of Grinnell and the College.

 To begin the planning and design process, representatives from Hood Design will be in Grinnell Thursday, Oct. 27, and Friday, Oct. 28. They will participate in interactive walking tours and input sessions with various members of the Grinnell community.

The College and Hood Design also will host two question-and-answer sessions for College and community members to learn more about the firm and its project in Grinnell. The “Hood Design Snack and Chat” sessions are free and open to the public:

• Friday, Oct. 28, from noon- 1 p.m. in Main Quad Dining Hall, 1221 Sixth Ave., Grinnell. This event includes pizza.
• Friday, Oct. 28, from 6-7 p.m. in Drake Community Library, 930 Park St., Grinnell. This event includes cookies and coffee.

During the next year, the Hood Design team will develop concepts and share them with key stakeholders on- and off-campus for input and refinement. The Community Enhancement and Engagement Office is working with Hood Design on the project. 

The landmark project is part of the College and city’s efforts to beautify the “Zone of Confluence,” the area between campus and downtown, and to improve the visitor experience. This effort includes transforming some of the underutilized and blighted properties into an active and vibrant mixed-used development by means of public-private partnership with Grinnell College as the primary driver.

The city and College already have worked together and independently to improve the visitor experience through beautification, signage and wayfinding, including the downtown street improvements, downtown facade project, central park, and town entrance features.

The parcel at the intersection of State Route 6 and U.S. Highway 146 had been for sale for several years, due to limited commercial appeal given its unusual shape and small size. Grinnell College acquired the property as part of a strategic land banking effort to help assemble some under-utilized parcels around the downtown perimeter with the goal of helping the downtown become a more vibrant social and commercial center for the community.

Hood Design aims to create public spaces that are relevant and inclusive to the communities they serve. The firm has created public spaces in diverse communities: from De Young museum in San Francisco to Buffalo, Jackson, Wyoming, Oakland, and the historically-black Hill District in Pittsburgh.

Walter Hood, the creative director of Hood Design, has been praised by many esteemed architectural experts and critics.  Charles Waldheim, chair of Harvard University’s department of landscape architecture, said, “Then Walter came of age, and nobody knew what to do with him. He was finding value and producing meaning in places that seemingly had none.”

Grinnell College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. Request accommodations from Conference Operations, 641-269-3235.

Minors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. Grinnell College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.