Imagining Obama's Library
John Hill
20. October 2014
Image: Dattner Architects, courtesy of The Guardian
With two years left in his presidency, we won't know the final form of the Obama Presidential Library for a little while. Nevertheless The Guardian asked four architects "to sketch and describe their unofficial visions for a possible" library design.
One of the four architects – Richard Dattner of World-Architects member firm Dattner Architects – selected a site near the University of Chicago on the city's South Side. The school, where Obama taught law before becoming a senator in 2004, is one of the four finalists for the location of the presidential library (the others are Columbia University in New York, the University of Hawaii and the University of Illinois at Chicago). Dattner's "O"-shaped spiral sits in Jackson Park, the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, a lasting symbol of Chicago and American architecture and planning.
In the words of Dattner in The Guardian opinion piece, "The round, organically spiraling form contrasts with former presidential libraries by rejecting dated monumentality, inflexibility and formalism. Its structure is transparent and open, accessible, sustainable and engaged with the surrounding community, city and region." Further, "The aspirational, rising spiral form grows toward the sky – housing stepped platforms for program functions, and terminating in a ceremonial hall and outdoor roof terraces with 360-degree views. The entire rising roof is planted and accessible – creating a verdant ring seen as a distinctive green 'O' from the air."
See more of Dattner's scheme, and those of the three other architects, at The Guardian.