CHICAGO — On one end of the regulation-size basketball court at the south end of the Obama Presidential Center is the slogan "Yes We Can," and on the other, "Inspired, Ready to Fight." The complex's main tower, which houses a museum dedicated to the life and career of the 44th president, houses the "Vestibule of Hope and Change," while outside is a playground (with child-safe rubber surfaces), a women's garden, barbecue grills, and a green roof with wheelchair-accessible vegetable beds.
It would be easy to parody the 19.3-acre Obama Foundation complex, which opens on June 19, and many critics and politicians have already done so. The 225-foot stone-clad tower, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, has been nicknamed "Obamalisk," and architectural traditionalists who have supported President Donald Trump have criticized the design as stark, brutalist, and fortress-like. Trump recently weighed in on this by posting a childhood meme on social media: a monumental trash can surrounded by the urban clutter of cars and telephone poles.
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects knows how to create buildings that feel simultaneously welcoming and open, yet cool and thoughtful. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
It all feels a bit like trying to cultivate an image as a political opponent before they can make a good first impression. And the Obama Center makes a good first impression, despite all the negative talk. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects has a knack for creating buildings that feel welcoming and open, yet calm and conducive to reflection, public spaces that distract from the hustle and bustle and engage in new forms of interaction. Like their design for the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the Obama Center is simultaneously open to the urban environment, yet within it, there's a slightly insular feeling of detachment.
The Obamas chose a site in Chicago's Jackson Park, near the University of Chicago, on land that served as the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition—a gigantic world's fair where African Americans were not allowed to exhibit or celebrate their contributions to American life. A center dedicated to the nation's first African-American president will open near the site of one of the 19th-century architectural marvels—the fair's "White City," with its gleaming classical pavilions celebrating America's aspirations to become a global power.
The nearly 20-acre campus has been meticulously designed and includes a new playground. (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post) Obama Center officials say they have expanded the green space in Jackson Park. (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
The campus is linear, consisting of a strip of land bordered on one side by an artificial lagoon and on the other by a busy four-lane road. The decision to use the site of a public park designed by esteemed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux was controversial. However, much of the new building is covered with a green roof and gardens, including a parking lot that was relocated underground after heated protests from local residents. Obama Center representatives claim that by restoring the four-lane road that once ran along the eastern edge of the campus and interspersing the building with gardens, they have effectively added nearly four acres of green space to the park.
On a sunny, warm day last week, it became clear that if the extensive rooftop gardens can be preserved, if the trees and grass planted there thrive, and if the center provides public access as promised, the loss of these acres of public parkland will be offset by several important urban amenities. Among them: a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, a basketball court, playgrounds, picnic areas, and a large collection of public art.
The main "Obamalik" tower is the most controversial element of the project. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
The project's most controversial element, the Obamalisk Tower, creates a completely different impression in photographs and upon inspection. Images circulating online do indeed create the impression of a rather gloomy, hermetic structure, oversized and oppressive. But the building is in keeping with the scale of several nearby high-rise residential buildings, and upon closer inspection, it's a graceful and orderly structure, its façade of mottled gray New Hampshire granite much like Obama's blue suit: reserved and businesslike, unobtrusive and a little reserved.
The tower's opacity is simply a case of form following function. The building serves as a museum, and contemporary museum designers favor windowless spaces where light can be carefully controlled both to preserve fragile materials and to enhance the effect of videos, films, and backlit images. Visitors are rewarded with an abundance of light in the atrium and the eight-story "Sky Room," which is open to visitors regardless of their $30 admission fee. The Sky Room offers magnificent views of Chicago's South Side, Lake Michigan, and the University of Chicago campus.
A security guard looks out onto Lake Michigan from the Sky Room. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
The exhibitions, designed by Ralph Applebaum Associates, begin with a basic civics lesson on democracy and the contradictions inherent in the American experiment. In the first room, visitors are greeted by the original Declaration of Independence, along with numerous testimonies of the unequal treatment of African Americans, women, and minorities. The exhibition and overall tone convey a progressive view of American political history, but also acknowledge some of the administration's failures, such as the botched launch of the Obamacare website.
As visitors move from a broad overview of American history to the details of Obama's political trajectory, the exhibit becomes more engaging, personal, and often deeply moving. Visitors given advance access to the museum last week wept as they watched a video about the tragically controversial events of June 26, 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing same-sex marriage—the same day Obama famously performed "Amazing Grace" at the funeral of Clement C. Pinckney, one of nine people killed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church by racist gunman Dylann Roof.
The exhibitions explore the contradictions inherent in the American experiment. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post) The museum tower has been criticized for its lack of windows, a window arrangement common in modern museums. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
Architect Billy Jien said the former president was directly involved in the design and development of the building, including the museum tower, which became increasingly vertical, becoming a visual landmark as the architecture evolved. The challenge, from a functional standpoint, was to create a building grand enough to satisfy visitors expecting a monument to the nation's first Black president, without devolving into architectural hagiography or an overly pompous structure.
«"It's about him, but not for him," Ji'en said.
The Washington Post's most read articles
-
A new chapter in the history of the Capital Weather Gang.
-
In 1877, the El Niño super-event killed millions. Are we better prepared for it now?
-
What caused the Palisades fire? Visual evidence points to a recent fire nearby.
-
Summer is approaching. But it may not be so noticeable at first.
-
Find out how this 9,000-mile freight train of warm water could contribute to a super El Niño.
Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama adviser and CEO of the Obama Foundation, says the center will be "issue agnostic," focusing on connecting and developing the next generation of leaders rather than specifically engaging with politics or international issues.
«"We're a 501(c)3 nonprofit, we're not a political organization, we have no affiliation with politics," she said in an interview. "This isn't a tribute to the past; it's an active, vibrant, engaged center focused on the future.".
Architects Tod Williams and Billy Tsien on May 29. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
She also explains the foundation's decision to operate separately from the National Archives and Records Administration, becoming a wholly private institution. The vast majority of presidential documents are now in digital format, and these documents and paper media are managed by NARA. But unlike other presidential libraries, which include NARA-managed research centers on their campuses, the Obama center is independent.
«"We have all the benefits of access to the National Archives of Australia, including access to artifacts, without being dependent on the whims of the federal government," she said. Among other things, this means the foundation won't have to close when the government shuts down.
«"City of Big Shoulders" by Mark Bradford. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post) Visitors tour the center during a preview. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
But this also completes what some critics see as a troubling evolution of presidential libraries from research institutions to full-fledged museums dedicated solely to embellishing their legacy. There's also the deeply troubling fact that there are virtually no meaningful restrictions or transparency regarding donations to presidential libraries. The Trump library is particularly concerning, given preliminary designs that suggest it will be a gigantic tower, entirely monetized as a profit center for the benefit of the president and his family.
But while the Obama Center isn't a presidential library in the traditional sense, it closely resembles a modern public library—a building type that has evolved from reading palaces into multipurpose community centers. It features a restaurant open to the public, a recording studio, conference rooms that can be booked for public events, and an auditorium that, in size and design, is more reminiscent of a church than a VIP conference room. When asked if there were any concerns about holding meetings of world leaders in the center's forum building while children relax in the library or play in the rooftop gardens, Emily Bittner, the foundation's vice president of communications, replied, "No, we welcome that tension.".
The center includes a branch of the Chicago Public Library. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post) Presidential Reading Room. (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
It would be unrealistic to expect former presidents to be uninterested in cultivating their reputations after leaving office, and perhaps even unwise. Legacies can be destroyed if left unprotected, and legacies are not just pieces of legislation but also the long-term vision of ideas. A visit to the Obama Center is a reminder of a valuable but endangered resource: all the feelings of self-confidence and optimism that helped propel Obama to power 17 years ago. It's like stepping into a time machine, hearing the old slogans, "Hope and Change," and given how deeply cynicism has permeated public life, the thought of returning to the Obama years, even in a museum setting, is tempting to roll your eyes.
Since the Obamas took office, the 45th, 46th, and 47th presidents have come and gone, enough time to seriously consider the fundamental question surrounding the 44th president: Did Obama usher in a new chapter in American politics, or was his presidency the last gasp of a passing era?
Walking into the Obama Center feels like stepping back into a time machine to the Obama presidency. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
Two design elements seem to answer this question. A sculpture by beloved American artist Martin Puryear in front of the forum's main building is somewhat reminiscent of a smaller version of Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis, but not quite symmetrical, with a slight deviation from perfect symmetry. For the foundation's leaders, this symbolizes Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous observation that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Ask them what Obama thinks of our current moment, and they quickly jump to the observation that democratic progress has always been two steps forward and one step back. And Obama, they say, isn't about to come out of retirement to save the day. That's the job of a new generation of political leaders.
Another detail: the top of the museum's tower is adorned with cast concrete letters, spelling out an excerpt from Obama's "You Are America" speech, delivered on the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. The words curl around one corner of the building, making it impossible to read them as a single text.
«"The issue of legibility isn't that important," said Todd Williams, standing in the Sky Room, where the words are visible through a glass window. "We leave that up to people to draw their own conclusions.".
The top of the museum's tower is adorned with cast concrete letters spelling out an excerpt from Obama's "You Are America" speech. — (Joshua Lott/For The Washington Post)
So is this rhetoric or decoration? Did all those words mean anything nearly two decades ago, or was it just a warm bath in a warm bath of oratorical vibrations? Something dark and catastrophic was brewing during the Obama years, and looking back, it seems America was asleep when it should have been alert. We now wonder if the era of eloquence and rhetoric is a thing of the past, or if the presidency is merely a game of Supermarket Run, where the winner takes as much loot as possible before the next administration takes office. Was Obama the alpha or the omega of American civic life?
He'd probably answer: neither. And he'd be right. Our cynicism is our fault, and no one else's. And so the Obama Center opens, visionary and cautious, open but reserved, a little reserved, full of potential but rather vague on specifics. Regardless of your political leanings, you have to give the building credit for at least one thing: it wants to be a good neighbor, and that's no small aspiration.