Obama Presidential Center

The Obama Presidential Center has been developed as an international cultural institution and campus that celebrates democracy and tells the story of the United States through the lens of our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama. Located on the south side of Chicago, the Center is thoughtfully situated within the community and designed to welcome visitors from across the street and around the globe.

The Center showcases multiple design features across a 19.3-acre campus; a tower housing a museum, community programming spaces, and a library are all surrounded by landscaped grounds that highlight a public plaza, gardens, and recreational spaces. The architecture emphasizes transparency, with glass walls inviting visitors to engage with the Center’s activities and events.

Leading Complex Stakeholder Groups

LJC was initially brought into the project team alongside Clayco (LJC’s affiliated construction company) as a design partner to evaluate and assess all aspects of the project in terms of constructibility at 50% construction document phase. LJC was then quickly integrated into the larger design team led by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects + Partners (TWBTA) to develop visualization—renderings, interactive models, 360s­—of the project to support fundraising and donor communication efforts, as well as assist with design refinement. 

This involvement led to LJC’s direct partnership with the Obama Foundation, where the team serves as an intermediary between the larger design and project leadership teams from the Foundation to drive schedule, close out outstanding design decisions, and coordinate VE efforts. The LJC team now also leads the interior design and FFE selection in collaboration with TWBTA for the entire project.

LJC’s growing scope can best be defined as that of a design manager, and the firm’s involvement has been a story of growth and trust; the relationship signifies applied experience and expertise paired with a focus on collaboration and drive for consensus that brings together a complex set of stakeholders and user groups that together are the backbone of this project’s realization.