Archinect - News

Obama Presidential Center pushes opening to 2026, Moody Nolan's athletics center to break ground this month

2024-03-11T12:04:00-04:00

The Moody Nolan-designed Obama Presidential Center Programs & Athletics Center project in Chicago’s Jackson Park has been scheduled to break ground later this month.

Project updates were reported late last week by the Chicago Sun-Times on the occasion of former President Obama's visit to McCormick Place to see a half-scale mockup of the 88-foot "Power of Words" video installation, the largest of 50 that will grace the Obama Presidential Center when it opens at a recently revised date in 2026.

The new opening date was provided by Obama Presidential Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett in an update to local reporters. The Center is slated to include three other buildings: the main museum tower from TWBTA, a new Chicago Public Library branch, and a forum/auditorium space with an indoor winter garden, completed by Maya Lin's water garden design and a 19.3-acre landscaped design by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

Rendering of the upcoming Obama Presidential Center Athletics Center. Image ...

The Obama Foundation is hiring a design associate to work on the Obama Presidential Center

2022-12-01T09:34:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for an Auditorium and Seating Designer at Theatre Projects Consultants, we are using our Job Highlights series this week to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Senior Associate of Design for the Obama Presidential Center.

The role, situated in Chicago, calls for an individual to join the wider Obama Foundation team delivering the high-profile project. Responsibilities for the successful candidate will include managing the project’s budget, workflow schedule, and on-site construction team, as well as managing the procurement and installation of all furniture, fixtures, equipment, accessories, and art for the center.

Why the role interests us

Over one year since former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama personally broke ground on the Obama Presidential Center, the recruitment of individuals to oversee on-site constructio...

Maya Lin's next sculptural installation will grace the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago

2022-08-08T13:10:00-04:00

The forthcoming Obama Presidential Library, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien, will now include a sculptural installation from Maya Lin, according to an announcement made on August 4 by the Obama Foundation.

The sculptural piece, titled “Seeing Through the Universe,” will anchor the library’s newly-announced water garden, which has been named to honor Obama’s late mother, Ann Dunham. It includes a stone oculus and pebble water feature surrounded by pathways leading away from the installation and into the library’s other recently-unveiled outdoor gathering spaces designed by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

“When we thought about what may be a fitting way to commemorate my mother’s influence on my sister and me, I thought about where she would want to be in this space,” this year’s A’22 keynote speaker said in a statement. “I could picture her sitting on one of the ...

Obama Presidential Center Director, Louise Bernard, discusses the site's progress

2022-06-22T11:51:00-04:00

The construction will take place holistically at once. Except for our athletic facility, whose timeline is little bit later. And there is all the landscaping work that will commence once the construction is further along. The vision of what the center will be is firmly understood. The drawings are complete and ready to be executed upon. The concrete work will be the next phase. People will begin to see the construction coming out of the ground beginning in the summer.

Bernard told ARTnews she wants the 19-acre TWBTA-designed library and parks complex to “serve as an example” for other developments in the city. The Director also described the museum's four-floor gallery layout, which is topped by a "Sky Room" feature in addition to a 5,000-square-foot special exhibits gallery located on the building's lowest level. When discussing the space she shared, "we will delve into topics that we only touch upon in the core exhibit.”

The museum will also include a replica of the oval office, and core galleries consisting of mostly donated objects filtered through the focal point of the historic 2008 Presidential election, with the curatorial direction being “not just to be about him but about the people who made his presidency possible.”

Watch Barack Obama break ground on the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago

2021-09-29T18:29:00-04:00

On Tuesday, Barack Obama broke ground on his highly anticipated presidential center on the South Side of Chicago.

In an hour-long ceremony at the 19-acre site in Jackson Park, Obama, joined by his wife and former First Lady, Michelle Obama, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, shared their remarks celebrating the long-awaited project before scooping up dirt with commemorative shovels.

“This day has been a long time coming,” said Mr. Obama. “We had originally hoped to hold a bigger, festive event, but the pandemic had other plans, so we’re keeping this small for now.”

Departing from similar projects recognizing former presidents, the center has been envisioned to host lectures, trainings, cultural events, concerts, and conversations, instead of acting as a presidential library.

“We want this center to be more than a static museum or a source of archival research,” the former president continued. “It won’t just be a collection of campaign memorabilia o...

The Obama Presidential Center is finally set to break ground on Tuesday

2021-09-24T19:42:00-04:00

A major milestone in the construction of one of Chicago’s most anticipated new developments is officially set, according to a late afternoon announcement from the Obama Foundation.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that an official groundbreaking ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center will be taking place on Tuesday.

The announcement comes on the heels of an August supreme court ruling that cleared the final hurdle to groundbreaking following a last-minute emergency motion to halt construction based on potential damages to the neighboring park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead.

We've got big news!

Our virtual groundbreaking festivities for the Obama Presidential Center will take place on Monday, Sept. 27 and Tuesday, Sept. 28.

Watch a special message from @BarackObama and @MichelleObama now. pic.twitter.com/yJ6M4DLL2A
— The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) September 24, 2021

The Billie Tsien and Tod Williams-designed center completed a comprehensive federal review process ear...

Obama Presidential Center construction continues after Supreme Court ruling

2021-08-23T12:52:00-04:00

Construction of the Obama Presidential Center is set to continue at Chicago’s Jackson Park following a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The project, designed by Tod Williams & Billie Tsien Architects in collaboration with Interactive Design Architects (IDEA), was subjected to a legal challenge which argued that the project would negatively impact the park’s historic setting.

Opponents of the center filed an emergency motion asking for a writ of injunction to be issued to block any additional groundbreaking of the center. One of the applicants, a nonprofit organization called Protect Our Parks, opposed the project on its current site, arguing the scheme should be built “on Chicago’s South Side outside of a dedicated public park.” A U.S. District Court Judge previously dismissed a suit by the organization in 2019.

Image: Obama Foundation

The motion cited concerns over the cutting down of trees in Jackson Park which are critical to migratory birds, as well as noise ...

The Obama Presidential Center continues to follow thru with diversifying its construction workforce and 'create a diverse pipeline of talent'

2021-03-31T19:53:00-04:00

With pre-construction underway, the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) announced more details of its construction costs and economic impact for Chicago. In February, the Obama Foundation shared that in addition to breaking ground in 2021, they expressed their commitment to providing subcontracting opportunities to a more diverse workforce.

"We believe the Obama Presidential Center should be built by a team that looks like the Center's surrounding community, and we're working hard to make sure that happens."

Image courtesy of Obama Foundation

WBEZ Chicago's Natalie Moore reports on the Foundation's promise and provides more details on the Center's workforce initiative progress. On March 10th, the Foundation stated workforce goals would prioritize South and West Side residents. "The OPC Construction Workforce Initiative will create an inclusive construction workforce trained with skills to build the OPC, and create a diverse pipeline of talent that can be funneled to construction project...

Obama Presidential Center will break ground this year

2021-02-04T11:12:00-05:00

The Obama Foundation announced yesterday the conclusion of a four-year-long federal review process for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), and intent to break ground on the Center in 2021.

The City of Chicago has already scheduled the start of pre-construction work due for April, which will include the relocation of utility lines on the site. Construction of the OPC will begin in the second half of the year, starting with preliminary roadwork, according to the Obama Foundation.

"Getting to this point wouldn’t have been possible without the folks in the community who have been a part of this process along the way," said President Obama in a video message. "Michelle and I want to thank you for making this project even better — a space for the community, built in partnership with the community. We know that by working together, we can unlock the South Side’s fullest potential — and help set up our city, our country, and our world for even better years still to come."

The estimated co...

Obama Center federal reviews come close to an end

2020-07-21T11:48:00-04:00

There is an end in sight for a pair of years-long federal reviews of the Obama Presidential Center, and based on a Thursday briefing we now know City Hall will not insist on replacement land outside of Jackson Park to make up for the 19.3 acres the complex will occupy.

President Obama chose to build his presidential center in Jackson Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designed by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. This is what sparked the series of reviews around the project. Lyn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times writes that, "the debate over the use of a historic park has over the years...exposed race and class fault lines in Chicago when it comes to the questions of whose voices should prevail in the fate of a historic park."

City Hall held a webinar to work through preservation concerns around the park, and Sweet reports that the reviews could be done soon.

Dignified Obama Presidential Center design receives subtle updates

2019-10-28T14:56:00-04:00

A new set of renderings have been unveiled for the controversial Obama Presidential Center (OPC) designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA) on Chicago's South Side.

The latest views present a more transparent and animated complex that has been tweaked to address ongoing aesthetic and siting concerns raised by the local community, landscape preservationists, and the design media.

Aerial and ground level views of the proposed presidential center. Images courtesy of Obama Foundation.

Compared with previous iterations of the project, the latest designs feature taller, more slender proportions as well as a greater number of openings and more glass. A central, multi-story entry portal rising 88-feet now marks the main face of the center's 235-foot tower, for example, while a retooled corner entry garden is marked along the building's mass by a faceted carve. The white stone-wrapped tower is set to be surrounded by landscapes designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, In...

Judge dismisses lawsuit against planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park

2019-06-11T18:48:00-04:00

In a surprising move, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the city of Chicago was within its authority when it approved the Obama Foundation’s plan to build the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. After listening to nearly an hour of arguments on both sides, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said construction of the sprawling Obama center campus can begin and dismissed the lawsuit filed by environmentalists that aimed to halt it.

Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park has faced strong opposition from the start and was barred from commencing construction due to the pending lawsuit brought forward by the group, Protect Our Parks.

"Even though this might be an important case, it’s not a difficult case," said U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey. "The park should have … be considered for what it is — a park and not a nature preserve."

Image courtesy of Obama Foundation

Obama Foundation CEO David Simas commented on the ruling in a statement: "We are thrilled with the City’s victory and grateful to all of those in Chicago and beyond who have believed in this project and made their voices heard every step of the way. Our vision for the Obama Presidential Center has always been one where the location reinforces the project’s core aims: a celebration of history, a place of connection and engagement for the public, and an investment in commun...

After Rahm Emanuel steps down, critics of Obama Presidential Center may have stronger chance to negotiate a CBA

2018-09-26T16:12:00-04:00

Nearly everyone in Chicago is in favor of establishing the Obama library on the South Side. But now, “There’ll be more room for dissent, and more people in Chicago generally willing to speak their mind without fearing the Emanuel administration,” said Juanita Irizarry, executive director of Friends of the Parks, which has opposed the seizure of parkland. [...] Emanuel’s departure also gives hope to critics pushing for a more open process.

In the ongoing controversy about the Obama Presidential Center's proposed site on Jackson Park, design journalist Zach Mortice writes about how critics of the library might have more opportunities to argue their case for a community benefits agreement (CBA) and transparency on the project planning process, once Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — who decided to not run for a third term — steps down.

University of Chicago faculty sign letter opposing current plans for Obama Presidential Center amidst changes

2018-01-08T19:35:00-05:00

From disapprovals over the design to concerns about parking, the Obama Presidential Center has been met with strong opposition since its unveiling. In particular, residents of Chicago's South Side, where the center will be located, have been quite critical of the Foundation's location choice as well as its refusal to sign a Community Benefits Agreement.

Joining in on the conversation, more than 100 University of Chicago faculty members have now penned a letter concerning the Obama Center, opposing its plans on economic and preservation grounds. Though faculty members support locating the Center in Chicago's South Side—near the university where the former President once taught—they share concerns expressed by neighborhood groups about its currently planned placement at Jackson Park.

Woodlawn residents and Hyde Parkers protest current Obama Center plans back in November. Courtesy of Southside Together Organizing for Power.

According to the criticism, locating the Center in Jackson Pa...

Obama Center parking garage proposal: community groups offer feedback after latest design revisions

2017-12-28T14:15:00-05:00

The Obama Center design team has been reworking plans for a proposed controversial garage on a portion of the historic Midway Plaisance, across the street from where the presidential complex is to be built in Jackson Park. [...] When I left off on this story in November, Tod Williams, one of the architects, said relocating the garage was under consideration, given the concerns of community groups for the historic publicly owned Midway property.

Curbed Chicago picks up the story where the Chicago Sun-Times left off and reports about some of the praise and criticism that was presented at a meeting the Obama Foundation had called on December 20 at its Hyde Park Headquarters. The hearing was led by the project's architects Tod Williams, Billie Tsien, Dina Griffin as well as the landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

Chicago's South Side community expresses concern about the Obama Presidential Center

2017-10-03T14:12:00-04:00

The Obama Presidential Center will be transformative, just as it will be truly urban, only up to a point. It’s bound to disappoint anybody who forgets that Obama’s political strategy, as distinct from his larger role in the culture, has always been unshakably centrist. Because (among other reasons) his race continues to make him a lightning rod, a magnet for unhinged opinion, he has preferred the middle to the edge.

Residents of the South Side in Chicago raise concerns about the location of the new center and complain that the Obama Foundation refuses to sign a Community Benefits Agreement guaranteeing construction jobs and other patronage to members of the South Side community.

Funding of Obama Presidential Center raises concerns

2017-08-24T09:00:00-04:00

Plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park are being firmed up largely out of public view, and one watchdog group is sounding the alarm about the lack of transparency. Decisions on the design of the center, the park’s golf course and even whether to eliminate some roads in the park are being worked out by the Obama Foundation, City Hall and the Chicago Park District.

Designed by the New York-based firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the Obama Presidential Center will consist of three buildings—a museum, a forum, and a library located near a lagoon that runs into Lake Michigan in Chicago's Jackson Park neighborhood. However, recently Jackson Park Watch has sent a letter to City Hall outlining their concerns about the lack of transparency throughout the planning process.

After many months, the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Department of Transportation have not yet put a price tag on the roadway and infrastructure changes tied to the Obama Center and the proposal to merge the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses into a single championship-caliber course, which would involve closing Cornell Drive and Marquette Drive, building a pair of new underpasses, possibly an underground garage and improving the shoreline.

The past four community meetings in June and July have not provided the public with any details about proposed street c...

Obama's Presidential Center through the landscape architecture lens

2017-05-24T15:15:00-04:00

The most important question related to the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side doesn’t have that much to do with its architecture. It is instead: What kind of landscape stewardship can a presidential museum and library offer? To be located in Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted’s Jackson Park, the project already has a heap of canonical landscape history to contend with. So can the Obama library make a great park greater?

"So this new landscape has the potential to improve upon the already very good. But for whom?," Zach Mortice asks in his piece for Landscape Architecture Magazine. "Will these grounds remain public and accessible for all South Siders and Chicagoans, free of charge?"

The Twitterverse Responds to Obama's Presidential Library

2017-05-08T18:34:00-04:00

During Obama's unveiling of plans for his upcoming Presidential Library and Center, the former POTUS revealed his young ambitions of being an architect. During yesterdays events, he proclaimed "I wanted to be an architect when I was a kid. Somehow, I took a wrong turn." Back in June, Obama chose architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien to design the foundation, but the community-organizer from Chicago has remained quite active in the planning process for his building, even sending the team back to the drawing boards after finding their initial design a little too quiet.

Blair Kamin, of the The Chicago Tribune, is as of yet, the only reporter to give his take on the plans. While he is hopeful that kinks will be worked out, he would like to see Obama's populist agenda for the center reflected more in the completed design. But, now that the plans have been released to the public, everyone gets to be a critic and responses to the design, concept, potential effects to the surrounding com...

Obama said to reveal 3D model of Presidential Center on Wednesday

2017-05-02T13:26:00-04:00

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Obamas will finally reveal a conceptual model of the former president’s library and museum tomorrow. The Obamas are to release the three-dimensional model at a community meeting event at the South Shore Cultural Center, which also happens to be where the couple held their 1992 wedding reception. Expected to attend the event is Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who also served as the president’s first White House Chief of Staff. Obama will host a roundtable discussion, giving an update on the center, followed by feedback from community leaders—a format that makes sense given that Obama got his start as a community organizer in Chicago and has long been a champion of civic engagement.

The Presidential Center, which is being designed by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, has been estimated to cost anywhere from $500 million to $1.5 billion and will be located in Jackson Park, a choice that has been controversial. Some are worried that developme...

Obama reacts to Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects's first design for the Obama Presidential Library

2017-02-24T12:47:00-05:00

Interviewed by Paul Goldberger, the New York architecture critic who advised the Obama Foundation on the architect selection process for the library, Williams and Tsien revealed conceptual ideas for the project, said Obama critiqued an early plan of theirs as too quiet [...] "He said it was too unflashy," ArchDaily quoted Tsien as saying. "He looked at what we did and he said, 'I said you could be sort of quiet, but I think you're a little too quiet.'"

The Barack Obama Presidential Center may end up costing up to $1.5B

2017-02-23T12:24:00-05:00

At an estimated $1.5 billion, the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago may end up costing more than three times what the George W. Bush Museum cost, according to new reports. This is primarily due to the fact that the center will house not one institution but two—both a presidential library and a museum about the lives of the former president and his wife. Moreover, Obama avoided doing much fundraising while in office, making it all the more difficult to come up with the funds.

“It won’t be easy,” said Tod Williams of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, designers of the Center. “It’s not just about preserving the past. It’s about the future.”

Obama chooses Jackson Park as the site for his Presidential Center

2016-07-27T18:59:00-04:00

According to the Chicago Tribune, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have finally settled on a site for the Obama Presidential Center: historic Jackson Park. Adjacent to the University of Chicago, the park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. An official announcement is expected next week.

The 500 acre park is also near the Museum of Science and Industry, the lakefront, Lake Shore Drive and two Metra train stations. It borders the Woodlawn neighborhood, described by the Tribune as "beginning to gentrify", and Hyde Park.

According to the Tribune, the park is "less challenging" than the other contender, Washington Park. While both sites are in poorer neighborhoods outside of the city center – a first for a presidential library –, the Washington Park neighborhood is more economically depressed than Jackson Park. One third of the land in Washington Park is vacant.

Estimated to cost $500 million, the Presidential Center will be designed by Tod Williams a...

Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects selected to design the Obama Presidential Center

2016-06-30T13:23:00-04:00

The Obama Foundation has selected Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners (TWBTA) to lead the design team for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, and Interactive Design Architects (IDEA) to be their partner as they begin this exciting project. TWBTA stood out in their commitment to explore the best ways of creating an innovative center for action that inspires communities and individuals to take on our biggest challenges.

The husband and wife team of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA) first started their practice back in 1986, with Paul Schulhof becoming the firm's third partner in 2013. The thirty person team is headquartered in New York.

"We believe that architecture is the coming together of art and use, and can bring a sense of grace to life," the architects state in the announcement. "The greatest buildings are places, which contribute to more than their particular task by elevating and improving the world.

"We are deeply moved by the mission of the Obama Foundation and the role the Center can play in empowering that mission. It is a joy, an honor, and a responsibility to create a place that reflects the optimism and integrity of the President and the First Lady."

TWBTA have designed a number of notable and highly-praised institutional projects in the past, including the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, and the Center for the A...

Paul Goldberger, advisor for the Obama Presidential Center, says Obamas prefer "modern and refined" over a "traditional" building

2016-02-10T13:38:00-05:00

MCP: How would you characterize the President and First Lady’s architectural taste, as best as you can tell up to this point? PG: Modern and refined. They like modern things quite genuinely. They do not want a traditional building... there’s a certain kind of, let’s say tailored modernism, that they respond best to. But they’re interested in a range of things, and they’re also very interested, as they should be, in somebody who they will feel comfortable talking to.

Paul Goldberger was first offered to advise the Obama Foundation in the selection of the Presidential Center's architect by Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who also happens to be the niece of Jay Pritzker – founder of the Pritzker Prize in 1979.

Get caught up on the selection process for the architect of Obama's Presidential Library:

Meryl Streep's husband among those helping select architect for the Obama Center

2016-01-14T12:37:00-05:00

The team advising the Barack Obama Foundation on the selection of an architect for the Obama Center includes the husbands of Caroline Kennedy and Meryl Streep – a designer and a sculptor — with Chicagoans Fred Eychaner and Bob Clark also centrally involved, the Sun-Times has learned. Known as the Design Advisory Team, the group is helping evaluate proposals from architects for the sought-after commission, with seven firms selected as finalists last December.

David Adjaye is the best bet for the Obama Presidential Library – but not because of the color of his skin

2016-01-13T21:00:00-05:00

The pervading sentiment in the architectural community is that Adjaye, a Ghanaian British architect, is the odds-on favorite... What no one has suggested publicly (though its oft-mentioned in social settings) is that Adjaye will be chosen because he is black. The rationalization is President Obama will “naturally" tap him for the job... Adjaye, who was born in Tanzania to Ghanian parents, and holds British citizenship, has a very different experience than his African American peers...

"The black British experience is a far cry from the African American experience, and it's undermining and lazy to presuppose that the first black President will favor an architect simply because of the color of his skin."

Related:

These are the seven finalists in the Obama Presidential Center competition

2015-12-21T13:35:00-05:00

Today, The Barack Obama Foundation issued a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to seven architectural firms, one of which will ultimately be selected to design the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on the South Side of Chicago. [...] Although the RFP process is not a design competition, the RFP will require defined, visual responses from each candidate to present creative ideas in response to the Foundation’s project goals.

After sending out RFQs to a broad range of (undisclosed but widely speculated) architectural firms on August 26, the President and First Lady, together with advisers from the Obama Foundation, have found time to sit down and select seven finalists to receive a formal Request for Proposal. The top-picks aren't surprising and reflect the direction public predictions had already taken:

Adjaye Associates, London, England
Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York, NY
John Ronan Architects, Chicago, Illinois
Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genova, Italy
SHoP Architects, New York, NY
Snøhetta, New York, NY
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York, NY

Martin Nesbitt, chairman of the Obama Foundation, said: "These finalists offer a variety of backgrounds and styles, and any one of them would be an excellent choice. We are excited to see this process moving forward because the Obama Presidential Center will be so much more than a library – this facility will seek to inspire citizens across the globe to...

Obama Presidential Center competition attracts 140 firms, early 2016 selection date of architect expected to be delayed

2015-09-22T14:30:00-04:00

The [Barack Obama Foundation] said 99 of the [140] firms were based in the U.S. with 'many' from Chicago...The Foundation expects [to shortlist] fewer than 10 finalists, who will be asked to respond to the still-to-be-released 'Request for Proposals.'...A Foundation spokesman said that given the number of responses, 'we are reviewing' the self-imposed early 2016 deadline for President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle to select an architect.

More about the Obama Presidential Center on Archinect:

First big-name architects confirmed for Obama Presidential Center

Coming soon: search for architect of Obama's presidential center

Chicago will indeed be the home of the Obama Presidential Center

University of Chicago will reportedly win race for Obama Presidential Library

2014 Chicago Prize winners envision the Obama Presidential Library

First big-name architects confirmed for Obama Presidential Center

2015-09-01T20:32:00-04:00

When Barack Obama's people announced last week that they are searching worldwide for an architect for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, they won no points for transparency. [...] Having consulted sources, I can now name 11 of the firms and observe that they are A) Of high caliber; B) Represent a broad geographic and aesthetic spectrum; and C) Include the established firms one would expect to be invited.

Rumors have been running wild which architects were among the 50+ selected firms to receive RFQs from the White House for the design of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

While Martin Nesbitt, chairman of the Barack Obama Foundation, remains tight-lipped about names of the invited designers, more and more national and international architects surface 'as confirmed.' Blair Kamin claims in his latest Tribune piece that — according to his sources — he can already name 11 of the firms: among them, Pritzker winner Renzo Piano, Chicago locals Helmut Jahn, Perkins+Will, Krueck+Sexton, and Tigerman McCurry Architects, New Yorkers Robert A.M. Stern (who has already designed GWB's presidential library) and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, as well as the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and others.

Kamin repeatedly points out London-based David Adjaye as the one to watch, potentially the first non-American architect who could land the job for an American presidential library.

R...