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 is delaying its choice until after the April 7 election. But for those seeking a substantive discussion of the library itself, and not the constant prattle around it, look no further than a new exhibition Presidential Libraries: Designing A Legacy, on display at the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Loop location through August 31, 2015.
On display are the two winners and three honorable mentions from the Chicago Architecture Club 2014 Chicago Prize competition. The Club’s competition bears no relation to the official selection process and instead asked architects to reexamine the role of the Presidential library, traditionally an institution that simply preserves and exhibits artifacts to the public. Walking into the exhibition space, visitors find a brief but little-known history of Presidential libraries, such as a 1955 Congressional law that determined Presidential libraries would be privately-erected but publically-run. Past libraries line the walls: from LBJ’s futuristic 1971 SOM design to Reagan’s massive 265,500-square-foot Spanish Mission-style building by KlingStubbins, the organizers don’t want you to forget the architectural diversity of Presidential libraries.
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