Obama Center's Earthbound Tower Redefines Chicago Architecture

Barack Obama steered the Obama Presidential Center’s design toward a solid, earthbound concrete tower clad in locally quarried stone, with two circulation cores, sunken courtyards, a library branch, and a Sky Room. The campus also features a forum and public plaza redesigned by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, emphasizing daylight, public space and monumentality over conventional glass towers and creating a distinctive, textured architectural presence in Chicago's Jackson Park.