flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

HOK releases proposal for Obama Library and Museum Campus

HOK releases proposal for Obama Library and Museum Campus

Proposal would locate the library in Chicago's historic Bronzeville neighborhood, aiming for urban revitalization as well as Living Building certification.


By HOK | June 20, 2014
HOK's proposal for the Obama Presidential Library integrates the facility into a
HOK's proposal for the Obama Presidential Library integrates the facility into a newly revitalized lakefront community. All imag

HOK has teamed with the President Obama Library and Museum Campus Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, on a planning and site selection proposal for hosting the Barack Obama Presidential Library in Chicago.

In a design bid submitted with Hawthorne Strategy Group to The Barack Obama Foundation on June 16, the team proposed locating the library on a site in Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. Developed by an integrated planning and design team in collaboration with more than 20 firms, organizations and community groups, the proposal for the library embodies the grassroots spirit of the Obama campaign to reflect the President’s agenda.

“Our proposal challenges the historic trend of designing presidential libraries as static repositories of a presidency,” said Peter Ruggiero, AIA, design principal for HOK’s Chicago practice. “By fully realizing the potential of the site, the Barack Obama Presidential Library would go beyond cataloguing President Obama’s eight years in office. As a living part of this historic South Side neighborhood, it would drive economic development and reinforce a sense of place at a crossroads of Chicago.”

Echoing architect Daniel Burnham’s admonition to “make no small plans,” the vision for the Bronzeville site is comprehensive and bold. HOK’s design acknowledges the area’s history as the city’s original African-American neighborhood while positioning the Obama Presidential Library as a catalyst to promote sustainable growth and attract investments that will deliver significant economic benefits to the community and region.

“The Barack Obama Presidential Library represents a seed of transformation that, once planted, would have the power to revitalize this important site,” said Ruggiero. “It creates new urban spaces that will reinvigorate the local community and initiate enduring change.”

Based on the 1909 Burnham Plan, Chicago’s strong urban grid and appropriately scaled streets provide seamless connections among neighborhoods, parks and Lake Michigan. The former Michael Reese Hospital campus in Bronzeville, however, currently creates a barrier between Bronzeville and the lakefront. The design proposal gives the south lakefront back to the people of Chicago, extending the Chicago Museum Campus to the south and filling a gap in a necklace of public city assets that stretches from Evanston to Northwest Indiana.

HOK’s biomimetic plan for the Obama Presidential Library aims to achieve Living Building Challenge certification. Principles of biomimicry will create a site that is functionally indistinguishable from the region’s natural coastal environment and that fills a gap in Illinois’ Millennium Reserve habitat restoration program.

“The Obama Presidential Library itself will be a model of 21st-century healthy urban living, carbon neutrality and regenerative design,” said Colin Rohlfing, HOK’s sustainable design leader in Chicago.

An elevated park would offer park views along 31st, 29th and 26th Streets, welcoming the community to the site. Connecting the site to Lake Michigan creates an important new green space in the city that has the potential to house vertical farms and land dedicated to research in environmental and related sciences. See the design bid on Issuu.

-------------

HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm. Through a network of 23 offices worldwide, HOK provides design excellence and innovation to create places that enrich people's lives and help clients succeed. For four consecutive years, DesignIntelligence has ranked HOK as a leader in sustainable and high-performance design.

 

The proposal envisions the library as a catalyst for a new lakefront connection in Bronzeville.

 

A new urban neighborhood would extend southward from the city's existing Museum Campus.

 

The existing site is fairly barren and was once the home of Michael Reese Hospital.

Related Stories

Giants 400 | Aug 25, 2022

Top 155 Apartment and Condominium Architecture Firms for 2022

Solomon Cordwell Buenz, KTGY, Gensler, and AO top the ranking of the nation's largest apartment and condominium architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

University Buildings | Aug 25, 2022

Higher education, striving for ‘normal’ again, puts student needs at the center of project planning

Sustainability and design flexibility are what higher education clients are seeking consistently, according to the dozen AEC Giants contacted for this article. “University campuses across North America are commissioning new construction projects designed to make existing buildings and energy systems more sustainable, and are building new flexible learning space that bridge the gap between remote and in-person learning,” say Patrick McCafferty, Arup’s Education Business Leader–Americas East region, and Matt Humphries, Education Business Leader in Canada region.

| Aug 25, 2022

New York City’s congestion pricing aims to reduce traffic, cut carbon

Officials recently released an environmental assessment that analyzes seven different possible pricing schemes for New York City’s congestion pricing program.

Sponsored | BD+C University Course | Aug 24, 2022

Solutions for cladding performance and supply issues

This course covers design considerations and cladding assembly choices for creating high-performance building envelopes — a crucial element in healthy, energy-efficient buildings.

| Aug 24, 2022

California’s investment in ‘community schools’ could transform K-12 education

California has allocated $4.1-billion to develop ‘community schools’ that have the potential to transform K-12 education.

| Aug 24, 2022

Architecture Billings Index slows but remains healthy

For the eighteenth consecutive month architecture firms reported increasing demand for design services in July, according to a new report today from The American Institute of Architects (AIA).

| Aug 23, 2022

New Mass. climate and energy law allows local bans on fossil fuel-powered appliances

A sweeping Massachusetts climate and energy bill recently signed into law by Republican governor Charlie Baker allows local bans on fossil fuel-powered appliances.

Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022

Top 100 Science + Technology Facility Architecture + AE Firms 2022

HDR, Flad Architects, Gensler, and DGA top the rankings of the nation's largest science and technology (S+T) facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022

Top 85 Laboratory Facility Architecture + AE Firms for 2022

Flad Architects, HDR, DGA, and Payette top the ranking of the nation's largest science and technology (S+T) laboratory facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022

Top 85 University Engineering + EA Firms for 2022

AECOM, Jacobs, Salas O'Brien, and IMEG head the ranking of the nation's largest university sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




Resiliency

U.S. is reducing floodplain development in most areas

The perception that the U.S. has not been able to curb development in flood-prone areas is mostly inaccurate, according to new research from climate adaptation experts. A national survey of floodplain development between 2001 and 2019 found that fewer structures were built in floodplains than might be expected if cities were building at random.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021