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

Image © HOK Among the nine rejected locations was one in Bronzeville, a historically black neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, where HOK had developed a proposal (above). When the Barack Obama Foundation announced its choice of four possible homes for the Obama Presidential Library, eliminating nine other contenders, it didn’t say a word about who might design the building. But there may be reason for several well-known​ architects to celebrate. They include Renzo Piano, the master planner for Columbia University’s Manhattanville Campus, and Thom Mayne, a consultant to the University of Illinois at Chicago. Those schools, along with

Photo © Sharon Farmer/NMAAHC President Obama addressed the crowd at the February 2012 groundbreaking ceremony for the David Adjaye-designed Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. When president Barack Obama held a state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron last year, the luminaries at the head table included Warren Buffett, George Clooney, and David Adjaye. Not long after, the British press began referring to Adjaye as the president’s favorite architect. At the time, there was no talk of an Obama presidential library—the election was still months away, and the president had reportedly told friends