I like it. Its like something out of Ancient Aliens. Its unique. :D

The final text used will be from an Obama Speech that has yet to be chosen.

Less Lime Kilnesque...

Do not like, needs girant wooden braces encircling the top...

Whatever ends up happening with those letters, no denying that the building + site plan is elegant and will be a fantastic asset to Jackson Park and the city. Can't wait to see this become reality.

Why is there no denying that?

Feel free to disagree!

This new iteration is definitely more elegant. I'm still not 100% sold on the overall design, but I'm sure it's one of those things that will grow on me.

Street removal in Jackson Park is still my favorite part of this whole project. A lot of our other parks need to undergo this as well.

I liked it. :shrug:

It looks like a mess to me now.

Tikal

Agreed. Garfield through Washington Park isn't great. Realistically it should probably get a couple of underpasses. The weird leg of Damen thru McKinley Park sucks too.

Jackson Park's status quo is sadly actually better than many parks... Washington Park has terrible pedestrian connectivity (and bicycle connectivity too). There is literally no safe way to cross from the North Side to the South Side of the park without going to the East or West edge. And don't get me started on the flooding issues...

And every time I walk or Divvy between the Garfield Green Line to the UC Campus, this intersection is super hairy. There's not even a signed crosswalk across Morgan Dr (not that it would help much).

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7912...7i16384!8i8192

[/rant]

Even while driving, try turning left here. I say a prayer every time.

Next time try it on a bike :)

Oh God, I know exactly where that is - it is legit terrifying

The sad thing is how totally unnecessary that leg is. Doesn't do a better job of getting you to Pershing than the regular 2000W length of Damen. And both Damen's end at Pershing anyway due to the railyard.

Hopefully one day the city can budget some money to giving the parks road diets. Really, just closing many of them to traffic would be fine. Turn them to bike paths/pedestrian walkways. Shouldn't cost all that much. :shrug:

I believe the Damen layout at McKinley Park is a a remnant of the old Damen viaduct that went down to 47th. Shame they've never tried to fix it in the decades since the viaduct came down.

My dream for the boulevards is that they become something like the parkway system in Minneapolis and St Paul. A lot of the boulevards are not major streets and would be really nice if they were limited to one lane each way and a design that kept cars down to 20-25 mph max.

Wow, never knew about that Damen viaduct but I wondered about the weird bit of Damen north of 47th. Crazy that they tore it down, but even shittier that they tore it down without restoring McKinley Park.

Removing any links in the grid just makes other parts of the grid into even worse auto sewers - in this case Western and Ashland which are god-awful drag strips. I assume removing the viaduct also meant removing the bus line, so McKinley Park and Back of the Yards became much less transit-friendly as a result.

Garfield/55th should really be a major BRT line connecting Hyde Park and Midway - there's plenty of room for dedicated bus lanes on the boulevard.

The 48 South Damen bus has been rush hour service only for decades. When the viaduct was condemned in March 2000, the bus was rerouted via Damen-Pershing-Western Blvd.-47th-Damen to 35th/Archer Orange Line. In late 2008, that was truncated to Western Orange Line.

The X55 operated as a demonstration project, paid for with special federal money, on Garfield and 55th from June 2002 until Feb 2010.

https://twitter.com/MichelleObama/st...694128641?s=20


"You are America" will be the lettering on the outside of the building

The full text is: "You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours."

https://www.obama.org/the-center/ext...veal_OPCAFFCHI

The video is very nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBTFbK8bMJQ