If the legacy of former President Barack Obama could be fit into an architectural image, this would apparently be it. Today, the world received its first look at the new Obama Presidential Center designed by husband-and-wife firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners in collaboration with Chicago-based Interactive Design Architects (IDEA).
IDEA’s Dina Griffin and President Barack Obama at the South Shore Cultural Center; image via The Washington Post
Initial images were revealed at a community conversation with President Obama and Dina Griffin, President of IDEA, at Chicago’s South Shore Cultural Center. Details show the monumental project as a set of three buildings incorporated into a campus and new public space within the 500-acre historic Jackson Park in the city’s South Side neighborhood.
Image via The Obama Foundation
At the north end of the campus is a museum that will house exhibition space, labs, education and meeting rooms. The light-stone structure towers over the other two buildings, serving as a new landmark for the city as well as a “lantern” for the complex, according to a statement released today by The Obama Foundation, the nonprofit in charge of building the project.
Southeast of the museum is the forum building, which holds an auditorium, restaurant and a public garden. The proposed library is situated directly across from the museum and will contain a large collection of documents, emails, photos and artifacts from Obama’s two terms in office. Both the library and forum will be single-story structures and will feature landscaped roofs that visitors can access from pathways at ground level. A central outdoor plaza connects the three buildings and smooths the transition from the city to the lagoon and Lake Michigan.
Not just another civic structure dedicated to preserving the legacy of a previous administration, the center will be an active hub for community life with a focus on inspiring and training the next generation of leaders, said Obama.
“There are a lot of presidential libraries, and I think there is a tendency to think of this as a monument to the past — to think of it as backwards-looking,” he said. “When Michelle and I started talking about the Presidential Center, we were really firm that what we wanted to do was create something for the future — something that was forward-looking.”
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien; image via Chicago Architecture Foundation
The center evokes the characteristic style of Williams and Tsien, who beat out a star-studded list of architects including Adjaye Associates — designers of the National Museum of African American History and Culture — to take on the project. The duo was awarded the 2013 National Medal of Arts by Obama, who is a longtime fan of their world-renowned buildings such as the University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, a glass and stone complex with a minimalist tone.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the architects’ proposal for the Obama Presidential Center stood out because it showed respect for the site’s historic context and Chicago’s rich architectural history.
Image via The Obama Foundation
The new campus is expected to cover 200,000 to 225,000 square feet of space, taking over the northwest corner of Jackson Park and closing off Cornell Drive, a heavily used roadway that cuts through the park, to traffic. The project sits just southwest of the famed Museum of Science and Industry on a narrow piece of land with an athletic field and a track, which will be moved farther south during construction.
Image via Google Earth
The parkland was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of New York’s Central Park, for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Obama hopes the project will reshape not only the South Side community, but the park, as well, making it an attractive and welcoming public place for locals and international visitors alike — on par with Chicago’s other Millennium and Lincoln Parks. He even noted a park revitalization project will create new hillsides for recreation like sledding and space for playgrounds.
“As we envision it, it’s not just building,” said Obama. “We are looking at transforming Jackson Park so once again it becomes a people’s park.”
Image via The Obama Foundation
The Obama Foundation did not reveal the overall cost of the project today, though the center has been previously reported to cost a minimum of $500 million. Construction is expected to be completed by 2021, but Obama emphasized that programming for the center would begin as early as this year.
“We don’t want to wait for a building,” said Obama, “because this isn’t just about buildings. This is about reaching out right now.” The Obamas also announced that they are personally donating $2 million to a summer jobs program in the South Shore community in order to incite youth engagement and get them working toward their futures.
Michelle Obama at the AIA 2017 Conference on Architecture; image via Architectural Record
In a speech given last week at the American Institute of Architects 2017 conference, Michelle Obama stressed the need for architects to build a more diverse industry, starting with educating children on what architects do.
“So many kids don’t even know what an architect is,” she said. “They don’t think about how buildings are built. They don’t know anything about developing or planning … You need to go to schools, neighborhoods, communities, any place where underrepresented minorities exist, and start talking.”
At today’s event, Griffin also noted the importance of giving the next generation the opportunity to see great architecture and meet architects who are passionately building the future. Griffin herself grew up in the South Side community and first studied architecture at Kenwood Academy, a magnet high school located in Hyde Park, just above Jackson Park.
Griffin said her team expects the preliminary design of the Obama Presidential Center to evolve as the project undergoes community review after today’s unveiling.
