It's official: The Barack Obama Foundation announced today that the Barack Obama Presidential Center will be located on Chicago's South Side, at a site near either Washington Park or Jackson Park. This confirms previous reports hinting at Chicago as the chosen city, winning over alternate proposals for New York City and Honolulu. The Obama family has strong ties to Chicago – it's where Michelle Obama was born and raised, President Obama's political career took off, and where the Presidential couple met, were married and raised a family.
The University of Chicago, where President Obama was a law professor for twelve years, will serve as a close partner in the realization of the Presidential Center, providing resources and infrastructural support. Alongside the Presidential Library, the Center will also include a museum and facilities for the Obama Foundation's operations. The Foundation will fund the construction of the Center, and is also planning to establish a presence in Honolulu, the President's birthplace.
Previous sites being considered for the Center were in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University, and University of Hawaii. The next step will be for the Foundation to choose an architect for the project, but it's uncertain when precisely that will be.
For more news related to the library and Presidential Center:
5 Comments
Blair Kamin's advice via an open memo to the President on selecting a design team, and getting their input on the site, is excellent.
It was always going to be the South Side. Cmon people. The only question is who will design it. Kamin and other critics are so overwrought and politically correct... I'd like to see a Bjarke design just to mess with people. Actually BIG makes the most sense as a fellow visionary that is a bit too focused on image over substance--just kidding!
jean gang is chicago isn't she? or did she start in new york? i would think she should be at the top of the list.
i would also think bjarke is too busy making his crab people for google. anyway, a presidential library should have a certain amount of implied ethnocentrism. opening trade borders is getting him in trouble with his base. what would elizabeth warren say if he sent all that design work (money) to europe?
also, i get a pay wall with the tribune article
I'll bet there won't be a competition limited to local architects.
I'll also bet that Blankfein and Diamond are big contributors.
Based on that trade deal I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it built in Asia…most certainly a foreign architect, or perhaps American, but with the CD’s done in Vietnam.
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