{"id":852678,"date":"2026-06-08T10:50:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/852678\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:50:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:50:48","slug":"column-barack-obama-was-the-shadow-architect-of-a-chicago-style-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/852678\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Barack Obama was the shadow architect of a Chicago-style museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forget Louis Sullivan\u2019s definition of the tall building as \u201ca proud and soaring thing\u201d \u2014 there\u2019s probably never been a building as tall as the Obama Presidential Center that seems so earthbound. The mostly solid 225-foot-tall tower\u2019s forms are unusual. And they seem to have been driven by their very atypical client.<\/p>\n

\u201c(President Barack Obama) was one of the clients who walks in and says, \u2018Well, if I hadn\u2019t been a president, I would\u2019ve been an architect,\u2019\u201d architect Billie Tsien recalls. \u201cAnybody in practice, their stomach always slightly clinches, because you know, this person\u2019s going to try to be the architect.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

But both Tsien and her partner, Tod Williams, describe a very involved Obama who really understood the drawings and models throughout the project\u2019s lengthy gestation period. \u201cHe made many good suggestions, and he made a few not so good suggestions,\u201d Tsien says.\n<\/p>\n

For all the recent noise about the center\u2019s frankly unusual tower, there\u2019s at least one thing that\u2019s downright conventional, even old-fashioned: It\u2019s a contemporary take on the traditional treasure box museum \u2014 a form popular throughout the 19th and 20th centuries that created mostly solid and protective structures that express their architectural seriousness through the decoration of mostly unwindowed facades. While not particularly tall, the older structures for the Art Institute, Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry are all of this distinct type.\n<\/p>\n

Williams and Tsien\u2019s initial proposal depicted a low-lying campus complex with a museum, a forum and a library.<\/p>\n

Obama coaxed the architects to create an iconic element, which was the genesis of the tower.<\/p>\n

But Williams explains that he was not about to engage the prototypical Chicago high-rise \u2014 namely, a steel-framed glass-clad structure. \u201cThe building is not one layer on another, stacked tall,\u201d Williams says, describing the quintessential Chicago tall building since Sullivan and his contemporaries. \u201cIt is largely a solid structure that feels earthbound, to and from earth.\u201d
\n\"TheThe Obama Presidential Center on June 3, 2026, in Chicago’s Jackson Park. The tower\u2019s structure is principally concrete, although little is seen of the material throughout the building. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s structure is principally concrete, although little is seen of the material throughout the building. While concrete was important to economically achieving some of the building\u2019s signature nips and tucks, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, or TWBTA, never considered exposing the material. \u201c(Stone) has the ability to change character and feeling,\u201d Williams says. \u201cAnd concrete won\u2019t do that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

TWBTA originally considered marble for the exterior, but discovered local contractors were skittish about the classic monumental stone based on its infamous failure on the Aon Building. Williams scouted granites, settling on a stone he found in New Hampshire. \u201cWhen I saw a quarry that had an 80-foot sheer face like this, I said, \u2018that\u2019s the stone,\u2019\u201d he says. Actually, two stones, both from the same quarry \u2014 one with variated patterns that clads the museum and its less dramatic kin that\u2019s on the forum and library.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stone is very different from any other stone we\u2019ve ever used,\u201d Tsien explains. \u201cIt becomes extremely figured (when it\u2019s wet). When it dries out, it\u2019s a little bit more sedate, but it\u2019s still pretty figurative.\u201d Every building looks a bit different as sun and clouds are always changing throughout the day, but the architect\u2019s material choices have rendered the presidential center as a particularly moody structure \u2014 which is a bit odd given its patron\u2019s famously even temper.\n<\/p>\n

The initial tower designs depict a tower that was squatter in proportions, had no text on the facades, and featured larger stone panels than the built version. \u201c(Obama) spoke of Br\u00e2ncu\u0219i as being a sculptor who he liked,\u201d Tsien recalls. The architect talks about the sculptor\u2019s interest in elemental forms: \u201cWhen it\u2019s finally finished, you can\u2019t add anything, you can\u2019t subtract anything, it is a thing unto itself.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The tower\u2019s distinctive shape was the result of an iterative process that produced at least three dozen different variations. But it\u2019s clear from discussions with the architects that the more sculptural approach to the tower was driven by Obama and was not their typical design process.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the client was not available to discuss his role.<\/p>\n

Crawling atop the west and south facades are 5-foot-tall letters cast in an ultra-high-performance concrete. The text began as an ornamental flourish proposed by the architects at the top of the tower with no fully legible words. It evolved into the 103-word excerpt from Obama\u2019s speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches.
\n\"AnAn excerpt from President Barack Obama’s speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches is set at the top of the Obama Presidential Center tower, seen June 3, 2026. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the tower\u2019s exterior that\u2019s odd; this characteristic extends to its inside as well. Architects generally position a tower\u2019s core at the center to maximize open space per floor and provide structural economy. But the OPC\u2019s tower has two cores that provide circulation efficiencies throughout the museum and create a visual opening from the northeast to the southwest corner at each of the non-museum floors. And for a structure that seems so solid on the skyline, the interiors on these floors at the top and bottom of the tower are strikingly bright and daylit.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the lower floors of the tower pack some vertical drama. A lower-level courtyard at the southwest corner of the building provides a pleasant outdoor space adjacent to the cafe and promises to be popular in nice weather. The adjacent three-story-tall indoor space is home to Mark Bradford\u2019s monumental \u201cCity of the Big Shoulders,\u201d an ode to the South Side that\u2019s one of the more effective art pieces produced specifically for the OPC.
\n\"ArtworkArtwork by Mark Bradford fills a wall between the garden and entry levels of the museum on June 3, 2026, as the Obama Presidential Center prepares for opening. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)
\n\"ProjectionsProjections flow between floors in the museum at the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side on June 3, 2026. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

The centerpiece of many visitors\u2019 trip to the presidential center will be the four museum floors that occupy the central section of the tower. Architecturally these floors are virtually identical with the solid exterior walls providing the exhibit designers with a relatively blank slate for their installations. An open well spatially connects these floors at the northeast corner \u2014 an attempt to unify the four levels that\u2019s more vertiginous than effective.\n<\/p>\n

Sitting atop the tower is the Sky Room, which can come as a bit of a surprise because its long horizontal windows are obscured behind the exterior screen of text. The views here are intentional \u2014 showcasing Chicago neighborhoods that were integral to the Obamas\u2019 histories. And the 5-foot-tall letters create an unusual screen between you and the city below.<\/p>\n