06-03-2026SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

The Obama Presidential Center is more than its granite tower

We spoke to the architects and urbanists behind the architectural lightning rod about their ambitious plans to give the 19-acre campus its own enduring legacy.

President Barack Obama walks through the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, IL on Wednesday April 8, 2026. [Photo: The Obama Foundation]

The imposing granite tower of the new Obama Presidential Center that’s risen from a public park on Chicago’s South Side is, depending on one’s aesthetic and political views, either jarring or monumental. But for all the hand-wringing that has come and will follow about the $850 million tower, it’s not the most important, or even the most interesting, thing about the project.

In addition to being a significant piece of........

© Fast Company