A newly opened photo tour offers a close look at the Obama Presidential Center’s five-building campus in Chicago’s Jackson Park—spanning a 225-foot museum tower, a forum with public library space, a Nancy Pelosi-named garden pavilion, and artwork and exhibits
When you step onto the Obama Presidential Center campus in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, the scale hits first—the 225-foot museum tower rises above rolling parkland and a constellation of buildings arranged over the site.
The center, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, is a five-building complex. Two of its structures—the Forum and a new Chicago Public Library branch—sit south of the Museum Tower under that parkland. shaped by New York landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Beneath the greenery, a 437-car parking garage is hidden under the park.
At the south end of the campus near 62nd Street, there’s a freestanding athletic facility called Home Court. It’s designed by architecture firm Moody Nolan. South of the library branch, visitors also find a garden pavilion named for former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The museum’s public-facing spaces immediately show how the center intends to tell history through objects and space as much as through words. In the museum’s Our Story Atrium. a bronze staircase frames a multimedia textile installation by Nick Cave and Marie Watt titled “This Land. Shared Sky.” The work unites Indigenous and Black traditions through beaded nets and sculptural jingle elements.
The museum also brings the Obama era indoors in replica form. A replica of the Obama-era Oval Office is featured in the museum, with a bust of MLK included in the replica.
Other pieces anchor the center’s Chicago focus. In the Our Story Atrium. Mark Bradford’s “City of the Big Shoulders” hangs on the wall. mapping Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods. In another space. the Nelson Mandela Skyroom sits atop the museum tower. with concrete lettering from President Obama’s “You Are America” speech lining the room. That 2015 speech marked the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches.
Up high, visitors can look out from the Nelson Mandela Skyroom over the campus, where light falls across a three-story bronze staircase and into courtyards below.
The Forum building adds a different kind of rhythm to the campus. Inside, the Hadiya Pendleton Atrium opens up space for exhibits and gatherings. Custom acoustic paneling lines the Elie Wiesel Auditorium. A cafe sits in the Forum Building, while a tribute wall appears inside the Forum.
In the museum’s Hope and Change Lobby, “This Land, Shared Sky” is again part of the experience—hung in that lobby space with its beaded nets and jingle elements. Concrete lettering from “You Are America” repeats across the campus experience, appearing again in the museum tower’s interior.
One of the biggest visual statements comes from a large stained-glass installation by Julie Mehretu. Portions of “Uprising of the Sun. ” an 83-foot-high work inspired by President Obama’s remarks at the 50th anniversary of the marches from Selma to Montgomery. are visible from inside the museum tower.
The museum floor also includes smaller works designed to pull visitors close. Three silkscreen prints from Nicola Green’s “In Seven Days” are on display on the lower level of the museum tower. The works are inspired by Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign.
A seating area in the lower level offers another anchor point: Mark Bradford’s 3-story piece “City of the Big Shoulders” punctuates the space there as well, continuing the mapping of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods.
And among the exhibitions, visitors view “Imagine Your Impact” in honor of Mae Jemison.
Outside, construction crews have been putting the finishing touches on the courtyard. Even as those final steps play out on campus. the tour’s images make clear what the center is designed to hold at once: a public park-like setting. formal museum spaces. athletic facilities. and art that ties Obama-era themes to Black and Indigenous traditions—along with the places and words meant to carry them forward.
Obama Presidential Center Chicago Jackson Park museum tower Nelson Mandela Skyroom Nancy Pelosi garden pavilion Nick Cave and Marie Watt Mark Bradford Julie Mehretu Mae Jemison exhibit