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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. — Chicago Sun-Times
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 centerChicago will indeed be the home of the Obama Presidential CenterUniversity of Chicago will reportedly win race for... View full entry
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.
— chicagotribune.com
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... View full entry
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.”
— chicago.suntimes.com
More on Obama's presidential center:Chicago will indeed be the home of the Obama Presidential CenterUniversity of Chicago will reportedly win race for Obama Presidential Library2014 Chicago Prize winners envision the Obama Presidential LibraryCALL FOR ENTRIES: What do you think the Obama... View full entry
Nicholas Korody profiled the work, of Greek-born architect Andreas Angelidakis.Therein Angelidakis explains "I guess the only thing I really 'design' is narratives for objects I find and put together, and this process does not need to be defined as completed by a realized object. You can keep... View full entry
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... View full entry
President Obama will choose the University of Chicago as the site for his presidential library, according to several reports and sources close to the Obama family.
The proposal from the University of Chicago in Chicago’s South Side Hyde Park neighborhood, which is near where the Obamas have a home, their daughters attended grammar school and Michelle Obama worked as a vice president of the university’s medical center, is the apparent winner, reports and these sources say.
— forbes.com
Previously View full entry
Although an American president has the right to having a dedicated Presidential Library, it's no surprise that the museum-library-shrine typology can spark debate and criticism regarding its true civic purpose. As plans for the Barack Obama Presidential Library appear to slowly take shape, the... View full entry
UIC officials said the site would extend like a deck over the point where the Kennedy, Dan Ryan and Eisenhower expressways come together, formerly known as the Circle Interchange. Officials said capping the expressways would be similar to the way Millennium Park was built over existing Illinois Central Railroad tracks. — chicagotribune.com
The Chicago Architectural Club launched its 2014 edition of the Chicago Prize ideas competition this past weekend: design the Barack Obama Presidential Library! From the lively discussion (if not frenzy) surrounding a Barack Obama Presidential Library possibly being built, the Chicago Prize invites architects and designers to send ideas of how the U.S. Presidential Library building typology should be reinvented. — bustler.net
The Chicago Prize 2014 competition aims to spark debate on the typology of the presidential library. Speculative proposals will fulfill functions like housing a collection of artifacts and documents relating to the president’s life while also providing educational infrastructure and framework... View full entry
Friday, October 24:Architecture in Flux: Reporting from ACADIA Conference, Day 1: The Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture has changed a lot since its inception in the early 1980s; the conference takes a look at the present moment of "digital design" practice, while that term... View full entry
Barack Obama still has two long years left to cement his legacy as something between “yes we can” and “at least I tried”. Regardless of how history remembers him, Obama will always represent a shift from the old guard, an idealistic starting point for what (and who) future presidents could be. For now, though, his official museum, his keeper of secrets: couldn’t that still be a tangible change we can believe in? At least an architectural one? — theguardian.com
