The Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum will be built near the University of Chicago on the city's South Side, beating out potential sites at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii, the New York Times reported yesterday. While the library's exact location has yet to be finalized, two Frederick Law Olmsted-designed parks—Jackson Park and Washington Park—are in the running. An architect has yet to be named.The location appears a logical choice: Obama taught at the University of Chicago Law School before running for office and Michelle Obama was raised on the South Side. The Obamas also have a house
The Obama Drone Aviary would transport Presidential artifacts to the public. The drama surrounding the siting of President Barack Obama’s future Presidential Library has unfurled like a juicy tabloid story, with the minute details making headlines and stoking fierce debate. Most recently, speculation abounded when the Barack Obama Foundation, the organization charged with selecting a site, polled the Windy City’s residents—and no other prospective cities—on their feelings towards the project, while Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has lobbied to build the library on city parkland if Chicago is indeed selected. Now, with the Chicago mayoral race in serious contention, the Foundation
A series of structures that once comprised a lumberyard is transformed into an innovative school for grades 7 to 12 in a northwest Chicago neighborhood.
Site Size: 6,922 square feet Project Size: 5,900 square feet Program: The clients wanted a house with an abundance of natural light, a direct connection to the outdoors, and privacy from the neighboring houses and elementary school. Location: Set on the last lot on a block of repetitive single-family homes to the north, the house is separated from a nearby elementary school to the south by a large parking lot and playground. Solution: The three-story house, clad in wood and glass on the ground floor and copper and glass above, is separated from its neighbors by a freestanding, board-formed concrete
If it were only a case of “practice what you preach,” the sustainably designed Midwest offices of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) would offer an impressive enough example, with a new space that exploits daylight and incorporates reclaimed materials.
Stroke of Genius: Part of a mayor's push to make the Chicago River a public asset, an energetic building turns structure and materials into a graceful expression of the activity it houses.
A rower crouches with her knees tucked below her fists, then dips her oars in the water and pulls back. The lines of the oars sketch an elegant V in the air, which is repeated over and over as the slender boat cuts through the water. Jeanne Gang thought about such movement when she started designing the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park in Chicago.
A four-story, 17,000-square-foot addition to the kindergarten- to eighth-grade Erie Elementary School’s existing quarters in a former Catholic school in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.