Q&A with Hannah Grau

Briefly describe your fellowship project. What part of St. Louis was the project and what was the goal of the project? What was your portion of it?
My fellowship consisted of two community-centered design initiatives situated in the St. Louis region. The primary project involved working with Promise Community Homes (PCH), a nonprofit that provides long-term housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Trivers is designing a 10-unit, 20-person residential development for PCH. The process was launched with a stakeholder charette held in PCH’s communal gymnasium, engaging administrative staff, caregivers, and maintenance personnel through a series of participatory design exercises. I played a key role in capturing insights and distilling key takeaways that were then synthesized into diagrams and programming summaries that informed the architectural brief. The project is currently in the rezoning phase, with future design iterations to incorporate the priorities identified through the charette process.

My secondary project was with Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT), focusing on the redesign of the region’s highest-utilized bus stop at 2494 State Street in East St. Louis. Grounded in user-survey data and site-specific environmental analysis, I developed a proposal for a climatically responsive bus shelter. Drawing from design methodologies explored in a WashU workshop with Javier García-Germán, I produced representational drawings to illustrate the thermal and experiential shifts of existing conditions compared to proposed interventions. The final design integrates passive shading strategies, expanded seating, and a solar-oriented fin structure incorporating a text-based public art installation reading “We Are East St. Louis.” These projects underscored the role of participatory engagement and climate-responsive design in shaping equitable public space interventions.

How did you connect with the community stakeholders working on this project? How did that impact your work? (1-3 sentences)
For the PCH project, I connected with stakeholders — including the executive director, administrative staff, caregivers, and family members — through a participatory charette that shaped the initial design direction. For the CMT project, I conducted site visits and translated rider survey data into visual narratives, ensuring the shelter design responded directly to user needs and environmental context.

What has been surprising as you’ve worked on this project?
I was surprised by the meaningful impact a small-scale intervention, like a bus shelter, could have on the St. Louis community. It was a powerful experience to translate the needs and desires of everyday riders into a design that not only responds to climate conditions but also celebrates the identity of East St. Louis.

Are there any themes you see connecting to work you’ve done in courses?
Yes, several themes from my coursework directly informed my fellowship work. My degree project focused on housing and care for individuals in end-of-life palliative care, which gave me a strong foundation for navigating the complex needs of residents, caregivers, and family members during the PCH charette. For the CMT project, I drew heavily from my climatic prototype workshop with Javier García-Germán, applying environmental analysis and representational strategies to develop a climate-responsive shelter design.

How have you evolved as an artist/architect/designer over the years?
I began my career in interior design and practiced professionally for five years before returning to school to study architecture. That transition and my education have fundamentally shifted the way I think about and approach design. Architecture has expanded my perspective — teaching me to see spatial, cultural, and environmental systems more holistically — and has deepened my ability to think critically and conceptually across scales.

Why did you choose to go to WashU?
I chose WashU for its thoughtfully balanced curriculum — one that embraces innovation and emerging technologies in architecture and construction, while also valuing the rigor of hand modeling and analog methods to study form, spatial relationships, program, and proximity. This dual emphasis allowed me to engage both conceptually and practically with the design process.