From Story-Telling to Story-Making
The Obama Presidential Center is more than a presidential library — it is a campus for collective civic engagement on Chicago's South Side. Where past presidential libraries have enshrined achievements, this Center is designed for story-making: inspiring ongoing local, national, and international dialogue. The campus integrates a museum tower, forum building, and library surrounding a public plaza — each component individually accessible at grade, connected below. Architecture by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. 276,000 SF across a 19.43-acre site. LEED Platinum V4, NetZero anticipated. Groundbreaking 2021, completion anticipated 2026. I contributed to this project as part of a team at Interactive Design Architects in Chicago — spanning interior conception, detailed spatial design, development of the exterior monolithic facade, material and fixture selection, and full documentation.
Aerial — Jackson Park
From above, the 19.43-acre campus reveals its civic logic: museum tower, forum, and library arranged around a central plaza, each accessible independently at grade and connected below. The landscape is not a setting for the architecture — it is equal to it. Jackson Park is extended, not interrupted.
Museum Tower — Stony Island Avenue
The museum tower seen from Stony Island Avenue at dusk — the monolithic Indiana limestone facade reading as a single carved mass against the Hyde Park sky. The architecture must be both monument and neighbor; this view is where that balance is tested most directly. The facade development was part of my work on the team at Interactive Design Architects.
Plaza — Courtyard
The courtyard plaza is the campus's civic heart — the space where museum, forum, and library come together at a human scale. Mature trees, generous seating, and an open ground plane make it feel claimed by the community before a single program event is scheduled.
Skyroom — Observation Level
The Skyroom crowns the tower as the campus's most contemplative room. The vaulted golden ceiling lifts the gaze; the continuous clerestory opens it to the city. A room entirely free of program and entirely full of presence — the symbolic ambition of the Center distilled into a single interior. Targeting LEED Platinum V4 and NetZero, the building holds this quality of space within a framework of genuine environmental responsibility.