New York — Ten years after leaving the White House , Barack Obama will inaugurate the Obama Presidential Center next Friday, a colossal project valued at US$850 million. The institution is located in Jackson Park, a historic park on Chicago 's South Side, conceived in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the same creators of Central Park in New York .
Bringing together culture, sports, performing arts, and recreation, the complex will employ 250 professionals and receive an average of 600,000 visitors per year in the indoor area and almost one million in the outdoor area.
The date and location are symbolic: June 19th, or Juneteenth , became a national holiday in 2021, celebrating the emancipation of the country's enslaved people. And South Side is the region where Michelle Obama was born and raised, and where young Obama began his adult life, becoming a community leader. It was also there that the couple bought their first home and had their two daughters.
The project includes four buildings, including an eight-story tower that houses a museum, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a multi-sports complex, and a space with an auditorium, restaurant, indoor garden, and recording and meeting rooms.
"It makes perfect sense that this project is here," Obama says in the promotional video for the new center.
Known for its concentration of low-income communities, the South Side has already benefited from several high-impact community and educational initiatives promoted by the Obama Foundation. Inaugurated in 2014, the foundation employs 235 people and receives support from entrepreneurs such as Brian Chesky , founder of Airbnb , who invested US$125 million in a scholarship project.
“In his farewell speech from the White House, Barack Obama said that, from that moment on, he was returning to his most important role: that of a citizen,” says Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the new institution, whose cornerstone was laid in 2021. “This project is an economic engine not only for the South Side, but also for the entire city,” the executive adds in the presentation material.
As she explains, the former president didn't want the project to be just a "time capsule" of his presidency:
"He envisioned a vibrant, dynamic, and welcoming space where people from the neighborhood or anywhere in the world would feel welcome, safe, engaged, inspired, and motivated to make changes in their own lives. And he wanted to do this through stories because, as everyone knows, he is a great storyteller."
The complex differs from a presidential library, formed after each presidency, which brings together historical records and artifacts accumulated throughout the period. Today, there are 16 of these libraries scattered throughout the country, dedicated to each president, beginning with Herbert Hoover (1929-33).
Obama's library is not in the new complex, but in another region in the state of Illinois.
The Obama Presidential Center is a private initiative whose museum tells the story of the country, displaying items such as documents from the founders of the United States. It will have a life-size replica of the Oval Office , where American presidents work in the White House, and galleries that tell the story of Obama's presidency, including photographs, videos, and even some of the thousands of letters he received (read and responded to) from ordinary citizens.
One of the wings is dedicated to Michelle Obama's achievements as First Lady. The space includes a display case with historical costumes: there you'll find the memorable black and red dress she wore on the day her husband was elected and the long dress with geometric figures she wore for the official portrait that is in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
The architecture bears the signature of the couple (and professional partners) Todd Williams and Billie Tsien, from the New York-based firm Dezeen. They won a competition against six other competitors.
Williams also explains, in the center's press release, that the project is based on the combination of the ideas of "singular" and "plural," while Billie Tsien reinforces that, more than recounting the past, the goal is to inspire the future. "Words were very important to us, just as they are to President Obama," says the architect.
One of the most striking elements of the project is the top of the museum tower, where a passage from what Obama considers the most important speech of his presidency has been engraved in monumental letters — written for the fiftieth anniversary of the Three Marches.
In 1965, led by Martin Luther King Jr. and other activists, the population marched approximately 87 kilometers between the cities of Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, in defense of the right to vote for Black Americans.
From inside the Nelson Mandela Sky Room , visitors can observe the city through the cutouts of the speech's lyrics.
“I like the fact that the text begins with 'You are America' and ends with 'this our nation.' This expresses very well the idea of a journey from 'I' to 'we,' a movement of ascension to the top. We are America. In the end, it is our nation,” says Billie, recalling that the Obamas had a large part in the project — with Michelle always reinforcing the importance of the idea of inclusion, acceptance, and fun.
The landscaping developed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates expanded Jackson Park by 1,500 hectares, installing 507 solar panels, a playground, walking trails, and adaptable areas for sledding in the snow during the winter.
900 new trees were planted, along with nearly 200,000 perennial plants and 5,000 tulips donated by the Dutch consulate in honor of the president. There is also a vegetable garden, a reminder of the healthy eating initiative that Michelle brought to the White House.
The center houses 30 works commissioned from 28 artists. Among them is Maya Lin, known for works such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and for incorporating water as an essential element in her creations.
At the Obama Presidential Center, she was responsible for the sculpture in the Ann Dunham Water Terrace area, dedicated to the former president's mother, who passed away in 1995, and installed outside. Of all the spaces in the center, Obama imagines that his mother's favorite spot would have been a bench in the middle of a garden. And so it was.
