As the Obama Presidential Center continues to rise in advance of a planned opening next spring on the South Side of Chicago, Barack Obama talked to the New York Times about his hopes and dreams for a four-building complex that will play home to a museum, a library, an auditorium, a basketball court, gardens, and other offerings—including commissioned works by 25 artists.
“I’m not interested in a mausoleum, and I’m not really that interested in just, you know, a celebration of my presidency,” Obama told the Times. “I’m more interested in, how can we use this space to activate people and get them to feel inspired about making a difference in their own communities? To create a center for community life in a place that, frankly, has often been neglected.”
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The former president continued, “I am a big believer in public spaces and public gatherings. I love the idea of creating spaces that make people feel more alive, more connected.”
An eight-story museum in granite, which some locals have taken to calling “the Obamalisk,” is the centerpiece of the complex and “will chronicle Mr. Obama’s presidency through films, installations, a replica of the Oval Office, miniature scenes of White House events and a collection of the first lady’s dresses.” It will also be home to artworks, including an 83-foot-tall abstract glass work by Julie Mehretu. Other artists commissioned to make work for the Obama Presidential Center include Maya Lin, Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, and Richard Hunt.
Obama himself figured in the design process led by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects, whose credits include work on the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. “Somehow I took a wrong turn and got into politics,” Obama said of a life-long interest in architecture that led him to contribute sketches and ideas to the designers. “I’m sure there were times when I got on their nerves a little bit.”
Green spaces around the Center designed by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh will include a fruit and vegetable garden that will feature a “teaching kitchen and picnic area,” a playground with slides and “giant spider webs” to climb on, and a hill for sledding during the winter (“by special request of the former first lady”).
Obama acknowledged concerns among some Chicago residents that the Center might disrupt more than help the communities around it. But, he said, “the possibilities for residents of benefiting from what we’re doing will vastly outweigh some of the disruptions that happen whenever you start a big project like this.”
“Look, this is always a challenge, right?” Obama said. “I mean, yeah, people want investments in their community, because that creates economic opportunities. [But] There’s always the potential for higher property values and the classic woes of gentrification.”
Valerie Jarrett, a seasoned Obama adviser and chief executive of the Obama Foundation, described the Center as a “gift” and an “economic engine” for the Chicago’s South Side. A financial impact study the foundation commissioned from Deloitte projected that the Obama Presidential Center would attract 625,000 to 760,000 visitors annually after higher visitorship in the first few years.
