CHICAGO | Obama Presidential Library

[vexxed82]

I haven't talked my way inside...yet, but I did get out on Saturday night for a quick drone flight. Looked like sunset might be a burner so I took a chance. Once this place opens in a couple weeks, it'll be a lot harder to capture this campus from above.

Kind of surprised how chill the area was. A few groups walking by stopped to take selfies. Some cars even pulled over to get a better look at the structure. But other than that, it was incredible serene - it felt like I had the place to myself.

Here are a few shots:

A 3-frame panorama to kick things off:
(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-6 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-9 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-2 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-10 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-1 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-5 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

[donnie]

if i didn't know any better i would have said these were renders... So clean

[Busy Bee]

Beautiful.

I just wish the stone had a warmer yellowish tone like depicted in the renderings. I think most agree here the tombstone quality of gray is not what they had expected and maybe not even what the designers had intended.

It is what it is though, and it's still pretty spectacular.

[cloudbod]

Amazing pics. Loving the lighting behind the letters. The shapes and details of this tower are so dynamic-- it looks completely different from angle to angle.

I'm also glad they added so much verticality to the park! Hills are pretty novel here, even if they're built with geofoam lol. Should offer some nice views of the MSI, the Wooded Island and the bell towers over on UChicago's campus.

Once the trees start filling in and all the path connections open up, it'll become clear how huge of an improvement this is to Hyde Park. I kinda forgot how absurdly bleak the stroads were in this area-- this is the one to the east, now replaced by a narrower bike/pedestrian path. Good riddance.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by vexxed82

I haven't talked my way inside...yet, but I did get out on Saturday night for a quick drone flight. Looked like sunset might be a burner so I took a chance. Once this place opens in a couple weeks, it'll be a lot harder to capture this campus from above.

Kind of surprised how chill the area was. A few groups walking by stopped to take selfies. Some cars even pulled over to get a better look at the structure. But other than that, it was incredible serene - it felt like I had the place to myself.

Here are a few shots:

A 3-frame panorama to kick things off:
(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-6 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-9 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-2 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-10 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-1 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

(5.30.26)-Obama_Presidential_Center_Dusk-WEB-5 by Nick Ulivieri, on Flickr

Best I've seen it look by far and a good example of why I wait until something is finished to start judging. It's growing on me.

[woodrow]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Beautiful.

I just wish the stone had a warmer yellowish tone like depicted in the renderings. I think most agree here the tombstone quality of gray is not what they had expected and maybe not even what the designers had intended.

It is what it is though, and it's still pretty spectacular.

The architects and the Obamas selected the stone together. They looked at a dozen samples and landed on this one. I would imagine they knew it would change the feel of the building from the initial renderings.

I think I agree with you. I little warmer would be nice. Maybe. I won't see it until I tour in July.

Again, fantastic shots Tom.

[twister244]

Maybe I'm the anomaly here, but I like the color of the stone. It's really coming through well in Nick's photos with the warm lighting. I feel like if it was a "warmer" color, it might start to get a more beige look......

Just my 2 cents though.

[buildityesterday]

Great pics, Nick! The stone almost appears to match the color of MSI in this lighting, which is a cool effect. Does anyone know if the color of the stone will change after it develops a bit of patina? It could look different after a few decades of Chicago weather.

Also, does the layout of the pathways bother anyone else? I'm sure they are made for meandering, but none of them seem very practical for traveling from point A to point B... A nitpick, I know.

Overall, I think this came out phenomenally.

[sentinel]

Those photos are sublime, Nick! Really lovely, thank you.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by woodrow

The architects and the Obamas selected the stone together. They looked at a dozen samples and landed on this one. I would imagine they knew it would change the feel of the building from the initial renderings.

I think I agree with you. I little warmer would be nice. Maybe. I won't see it until I tour in July.

Again, fantastic shots Tom.

I think we've discussed this to death, but granite in the warmer tone is not available domestically, and the Obamas didn't want to be caught using imported stone instead of American. So we ended up with this New Hampshire granite.

You can get domestic limestone in a warmer tone (Indiana, Kasota, etc) but it's a weaker stone and will need continuous repairs for its entire lifespan.

[vexxed82]

Originally Posted by buildityesterday

Great pics, Nick! The stone almost appears to match the color of MSI in this lighting, which is a cool effect. Does anyone know if the color of the stone will change after it develops a bit of patina? It could look different after a few decades of Chicago weather.

Also, does the layout of the pathways bother anyone else? I'm sure they are made for meandering, but none of them seem very practical for traveling from point A to point B... A nitpick, I know.

Overall, I think this came out phenomenally.

Originally Posted by ardecila

I think we've discussed this to death, but granite in the warmer tone is not available domestically, and the Obamas didn't want to be caught using imported stone instead of American. So we ended up with this New Hampshire granite.

You can get domestic limestone in a warmer tone (Indiana, Kasota, etc) but it's a weaker stone and will need continuous repairs for its entire lifespan.

Originally Posted by sentinel

Those photos are sublime, Nick! Really lovely, thank you.

Originally Posted by twister244

Maybe I'm the anomaly here, but I like the color of the stone. It's really coming through well in Nick's photos with the warm lighting. I feel like if it was a "warmer" color, it might start to get a more beige look......

Just my 2 cents though.

Originally Posted by woodrow

The architects and the Obamas selected the stone together. They looked at a dozen samples and landed on this one. I would imagine they knew it would change the feel of the building from the initial renderings.

I think I agree with you. I little warmer would be nice. Maybe. I won't see it until I tour in July.

Again, fantastic shots Tom.

________

Thanks, all! I really lucked out with the light. I've envisioned this shot for a while and it all fell into place on Saturday. I tried my best to make the stone look neutral, but it was tough in that dusky light. It was more blue in the photos than in reality so I desaturated and warmed the stone up slightly - but the blue cast was moreso due to the fact that the tower was in shadow - particularly the drone shots. In person it's an almost-neutral-but-slighlty-cool gray. Of course, sun angle and atmosphere will always affect the 'mood' of the stone a bit

[Via Chicago]

i do think this building is very lighting dependent. as the pics above illustrate (and the NYT review that came out today mentions), at certain hours and angles it takes on beautiful pink hues. its obviously much starker at mid-day in harsh light.

i do think it will be interesting to see how it ages, especially the landscaping which can do a lot to soften things. millenium park looked a bit awkward when it first opened too and all the saplings and gardens looked fresh and under-developed.

[Ganesha]

Originally Posted by vexxed82

________

Thanks, all! I really lucked out with the light. I've envisioned this shot for a while and it all fell into place on Saturday. I tried my best to make the stone look neutral, but it was tough in that dusky light. It was more blue in the photos than in reality so I desaturated and warmed the stone up slightly - but the blue cast was moreso due to the fact that the tower was in shadow - particularly the drone shots. In person it's an almost-neutral-but-slighlty-cool gray. Of course, sun angle and atmosphere will always affect the 'mood' of the stone a bit

These are gorgeous pics. Nick, would you ever consider uploading one to Wikimedia Commons? You can set a CC license that will make sure you are given credit, and it could then be used on the Wikipedia page for the center, which currently doesn't have any very high-quality images.

Ganesha

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

i do think this building is very lighting dependent. as the pics above illustrate (and the NYT review that came out today mentions), at certain hours and angles it takes on beautiful pink hues. its obviously much starker at mid-day in harsh light.

i do think it will be interesting to see how it ages, especially the landscaping which can do a lot to soften things. millenium park looked a bit awkward when it first opened too and all the saplings and gardens looked fresh and under-developed.

Yes, the landscaping is the second half of the architecture and it will only get better with time. Van Valkenburgh is a master.

[r18tdi]

This Guardian review raises some valid critiques, but is presented in a quite bitchy way:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...rack-obamas-presidential-library-chicago

[nomarandlee]

Needless to say, there are going to be many architectural and design reviews coming in over the coming months....

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...BHDV429Uep6ZG93dXZ7Fw#Echobox=1780380981

Architecture
‘Like a Klingon prison’: inside Barack Obama’s audacious, near-windowless, $850m presidential library
Towering over a low-income area of Chicago, and wrapped in a speech that’s hard to decipher, this controversial monolith feels like a menacing sci-fi HQ. Is it a monument – or a mausoleum?

Oliver Wainwright
Tue 2 Jun 2026

.... He might have seemed humble in office, but in his post-presidential, Netflix-producing afterlife, Obama has erected the largest, costliest and most audacious complex of them all. Behold the $850m Obamalisk – or, as it sometimes feels morbidly like, the Obamausoleum....

[Lakeviewguy]

Lee Bey of the Sun Times and Phillip Kennicott of WaPo both offered thoughtful and insightful reviews today of the building. I thought both articles were better than that offered by the NY Times. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertain...-opens-time-warp-an-old-political-order/

[Via Chicago]

that guardian review is embarrassing for its author

[woodrow]

The Guardian review really irritated me. I think Wainwright can be a thoughtful reviewer but in his review he was snide. Similar the NYT. Kimmelman was looking for things not to like beyond the museum, which of course is open to criticism as any work of significant architecture is.

Thanks for the link to the WaPo review. THAT was thoughtful and looked at the larger socio-political issues in a thoughtful way. Bey's was good as well. He brings needed local knowledge along with his rigor.

I am tired of the complaints about it being in the park, especially since they have removed a stroad. The park they have built looks beautiful and will on ly get more so with age.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by woodrow

I am tired of the complaints about it being in the park, especially since they have removed a stroad. The park they have built looks beautiful and will on ly get more so with age.

Agreed. I understand the need to preserve our parks as open space for the public, however the museum footprint is smaller than the roadways removed, meaning we are ending up with more parkland than we had before.

I honestly wish they went further with the road removal. Cornell south of Hayes should have been removed entirely. Marquette as well, since Hayes already serves as a transverse road connecting Stoney Island with S. LSD. Hopefully this is something that is studied by the park district and maybe considered in the future.