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
| May 9, 2012
International green building speaker to keynote Australia’s largest building systems trade show
Green building, sustainability consultant, green building book author Jerry Yudelson will be the keynote speaker at the Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration and Building Systems (ARBS) conference in Melbourne, Australia.
| May 9, 2012
Tishman delivers Revel six weeks early
Revel stands more than 730 feet tall, consists of over 6.3 milliont--sf of space, and is enclosed by 836,762-sf of glass.
| May 9, 2012
Stoddert Elementary School in DC wins first US DOE Green Ribbon School Award
Sustainable materials, operational efficiency, and student engagement create high-performance, healthy environment for life-long learning.
| May 9, 2012
Shepley Bulfinch given IIDA Design award for Woodruff Library?
The design challenges included creating an entry sequence to orient patrons and highlight services; establishing a sense of identity visible from the exterior; and providing a flexible extended-hours access for part of the learning commons.
| May 9, 2012
Construction Defect Symposium will examine strategies for reducing litigation costs
July event in Key West will target decision makers in the insurance and construction industries.
| May 8, 2012
WDMA and AAMA release window, door & skylight market studies
Historic data for 2006 through 2011 and forecast data for 2012 through 2015 are included in the report.
| May 8, 2012
Study presents snapshot of domestic violence shelter services
Unique partnership of architects and domestic violence advocates brings new strategies for emergency housing.
| May 8, 2012
Gensler & J.C. Anderson team for pro bono high school project in Chicago
City Year representatives came to Gensler for their assistance in the transformation of the organization’s offices within Orr Academy High School, which also serve as an academic and social gathering space for students and corps members.
| May 8, 2012
Skanska USA hires Zamrowski as senior project manager
In his new role at Skanska, Zamrowski will serve as the day-to-day on-site contact for select Pennsylvania-based projects during all phases of construction.
| May 8, 2012
Morgan/Harbour completes three projects at Columbia Centre
Projects completed on behalf of property owner, White Oak Realty Partners, LLC, Pearlmark Realty Partners, LLC and Angelo Gordon & Co.