Barack Obama Unveils New Plans for Obama Presidential Center

Words by Shurida Lundi

Even after his presidency, Barack Obama along with former First Lady Michelle Obama continue to leave a legacy. The Barack Obama Presidential Center unveiled new plans after previous pushback from critics about an above-ground parking garage and its impact on a historical landscape.

In a video distributed by the Obama Foundation, the Presidential Center will be a place for the people of Chicago to come together and have fun while sharing ideas. A new sleeker building was unveiled with an underground garage, a play area for families and the removal of a pedestrian bridge.

“The Obama Presidential Center will be a global community center, a place of life and vibrancy that showcases the South Side to the world,” said Martin Nesbitt, board chair of the Obama Foundation, in a statement.

The idea of the Center came from the picture of different hands coming together Obama said in the video.

“So too, each facade of our four-sided tower will be a little different from the next. It’s our way of showing, it takes many hands to shape a place,” Obama said.

The former POTUS stressed that the voices of the public will always be important to the design of the building. Michelle Obama took to Instagram to express her sentiments about the OPC.

View this post on Instagram

From the very beginning, @BarackObama and I knew the Obama Presidential Center had to be on the South Side. It’s where we met and where our girls were born. It’s home. We've been designing the Center as a place that inspires young people and gives them the tools they need to find their voices, then go out and change the world. It will be a place to learn, connect, and have some fun. The South Side will finally have a sledding hill, a vegetable garden like the one we had at the White House, and other attractions for Chicagoans and visitors from around the world to enjoy. Follow the @ObamaFoundation for updates, and let us know what you think!

A post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Jan 10, 2018 at 3:38pm PST

Plans for the building will be submitted to the Chicago Plan Commission to win approval this spring. This way building can commence by the end of the year and have the OPC open in 2021.