Exploring Community Identity Through Architecture

Thanks in part to Grinnell’s individually advised approach to learning, many students are able to synthesize two seemingly disparate interests. Nate Crail ’19 was able to do this, combining his two passions for anthropology and architecture.

“Since my childhood, I’ve been really interested in architecture and urbanism,” he says. “As an anthropology major, I knew that I wanted my senior thesis to involve both architecture and anthropology in some way.”

How Intellectual Curiosity and Academic Opportunities at Grinnell Helped Shape the Experience

Crail’s choice to pursue this research topic was further motivated by a number of experiences he had during his years at Grinnell. He first served as a member of the advisory board for the Center for Prairie Studies and took Jon Andelson’s course, Nature and Culture on the American Prairie. “These experiences deepened the importance of place for me,” Crail says.

He then took Fredo Rivera’s courses on modern and contemporary architecture, which armed him with the knowledge to critically analyze architecture and built spaces. Consequently, he noticed a gap in the literature. “The social science literature does not consider the architectural aspects of public space enough, while the design literature does not consider the social aspects enough,” he says.

With this in mind, Crail analyzed the social roles of several buildings in downtown Grinnell. The result was a spring 2019 anthropology senior thesis entitled “Rendering Public Space: The Social Production of Community Identity and Architecture.”

Studying Grinnell, the Place

As for many Grinnell students, the town and environment of Grinnell, Iowa, became Crail’s research laboratory. In his thesis project, Crail studied how and why social forces shaped Drake Community Library and Hotel Grinnell, a building recently repurposed from its old use as a school and city office building. He found that while both Drake Library and Hotel Grinnell elevate the public through their spaces and programming, their architectures are rooted in different aspects of Grinnell’s community identity.

Crail presented his research at the 2019 Grinnell Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Symposium, as part of a panel entitled “Grinnell: The Local and Beyond.” He hopes his research will have relevance for future students. “I want to enhance the knowledge of Grinnell-the-place and help showcase spaces that students, including myself, may not frequent as often as long-term residents of Grinnell.”