Archinect - News

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...

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...

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

2015-08-17T13:13:00-04:00

The competition for the premier high-profile commission is expected to draw the interest of the leading “starchitects” across the globe. The foundation has stated in earlier documents associated with the site selection competition that the “unified design vision” calls for the building to be a “responsible steward of the environment” and one that “embodies principles of biomimicry to create a living building.”

Heizer's "City" now part of national monument, thanks to POTUS

2015-07-10T15:23:00-04:00

Using his authority under the Antiquities Act, the president created a protected area spanning roughly 704,000 acres in central Nevada’s Basin and Range, as well as smaller ones in California’s Berryessa Snow Mountain and Texas’ Waco Mammoth. [...] Broadly supported by environmentalists, [Basin and Range] is also home to a major earthen sculpture, “City” which the artist Michael Heizer has worked to create over nearly half a century.

All in all, these new monuments cover more land than the state of Rhode Island, adding significant mileage to Obama's public lands legacy. The Basin and Range (Nevada), Berryessa Snow Mountain (California) and Waco Mammoth (Texas) monuments cover lands that are either completely or mostly undeveloped, and their now-protected status will prohibit mining and energy leasing.

The designation also encompasses Michael Heizer's "City", the massive land-art project now in the final stage of its creation, located in Garden Valley, Nevada. "City" was an integral part of a public preservation campaign aimed at getting President Obama to act on the area. Heizer will reportedly attend the White House ceremony when the President will sign the monument proclamations.

Also now off the table are talks of a possible rail corridor through the Basin and Range area, chiefly for shipping nuclear waste to the nearby Yucca Mountain repository.

For more on the history of Heizer's "City":

#ProtectCity campaign l...