In a city with an iconic skyline, the Obama presidential museum aims to reshape Chicago architecture

Sophia Tareen
In a city with an iconic skyline, the Obama presidential museum aims to reshape Chicago architecture

The granite monolith soars above a leafy stretch of Chicago’s South Side, a nearly windowless exterior more suited to a sci-fi film set than the state-of-the art presidential museum held within.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the Obama Presidential Center ahead of the official public opening on Juneteenth, more than a decade after the site was chosen. But the design of the roughly $850 million campus — particularly the conspicuous 225-foot high rise at its north end — still divides the city celebrated as the birthplace of the modern skyscraper.

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