Obama Presidential Center opens in Chicago as $850 million complex

The Egyptians had their pyramids. The Anglo-Saxons had their barrows. And the Americans have their presidential libraries, the chief difference being that the leaders the United States venerates are usually still alive at the opening.

Lacking a royal family or a state religion, the U.S. presidency has swelled to fill the void, turning over the decades into a national personality cult complete with its own secular temples. The latest such structure is about to open on Chicago’s south side, where it looms on the skyline as a towering tribute to the 44th president, Barack Obama. He might have seemed humble in office, but in his post-presidential, Netflix-producing years, Obama has erected the largest, costliest and most audacious complex of them all.

Previous presidential libraries have taken many forms, reflecting the values of their creators. Franklin D. Roosevelt began the tradition in 1940, building a library in Dutch colonial style alongside his grave in upstate New York. Since then, every president has followed suit. Lyndon B. Johnson commissioned a brutalist building for Austin, Texas. Ronald Reagan chose a sprawling California hacienda with a hangar for Air Force One. Bill Clinton built a cantilevered metallic box in Arkansas.

Architect Billie Tsien, whose firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects won the design competition for the Obama Presidential Center in 2016, said the team aimed for a beacon. She described the idea of four hands coming together to protect a flame. The result is a 70-metre monolith of granite that rises from a 19-acre campus. The mostly windowless tower has drawn comparisons to a flak tower and a Klingon prison.

Tsien said Obama was very hands-on with the design and spoke of his admiration for the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși. He pushed for more angular forms. The facade carries lines from his 2015 speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma marches, including the words “YOU ARE AMERICA,” though some residents have said the lettering looks like Latin.

The campus includes a forum with an auditorium, cafe, restaurant and gift shop, plus a branch of the Chicago Public Library. A sports pavilion by Moody Nolan contains an indoor basketball court. The landscape, designed by Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, features a sledging hill, playground and community garden plots.

The center is the first presidential library run entirely by a private foundation rather than the National Archives, and its records are digital. It offers no physical research stacks. A 400-space parking lot was built despite Obama’s past support for public transit.

For $30 a ticket, visitors can tour four floors of exhibits that trace Obama’s life, campaigns and time in the White House. A full-size recreation of the Oval Office is included. An elevator takes guests to a top-floor room with city views beneath a white pyramid ceiling.

The project sits in Jackson Park, designed in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmsted. The decision to build on parkland led to lawsuits. Residents have also raised concerns about gentrification, rising rents and displacement tied to new luxury housing nearby. The foundation has said the project will generate $3.1 billion in economic activity.

The center opens on 19 June.