Image: @Obamafoundation/X
The Obama presidential library has been universally mocked during construction as austere and “prison-like.”
Senator Ted Cruz upped the mockery and took to social media on Tuesday to poke fun at the building with a Star Wars reference.
Cruz shared on X, “Locating the Death Star in Chicago was a bold move.”
Locating the Death Star in Chicago was a bold move. https://t.co/Kz2MkuRuq7
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 14, 2025
Users on X could not help but weigh in.
A “view from the inside.”
View from the inside. pic.twitter.com/joLrR3DCxO
— M. Czechowski (@Ectobass) October 14, 2025
The “design inspiration.”
This was the design inspiration: pic.twitter.com/goYdnGfOx7
— TruBlueGrl (@TruBlueGrl) October 15, 2025
pic.twitter.com/5YQkcZ7tTR
— George Katschke (@george_katschke) October 15, 2025
Another user noted the difference between Obama’s library and plans for President Trump’s library.
Look at the difference between what Obama is building and what Trump is building.
Obama is building what resembles The Star Wars ‘Death Star’
Meanwhile Trump is building classical architecture that looks like it’s from The Renaissance Period.
The Arc of Trump! pic.twitter.com/krwPPsUZlL
— Joe T ⌘ (@BryptoJoe) October 18, 2025
The shrine to Barack Obama, the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), is still under construction but expected to open next year.
Biz Pac Review notes that the building, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, features an exterior wrapped in granite panels and is one of “numerous buildings on the massive 19-acre Obama Presidential Center campus, which has been priced at about $830 million by the Associated Press.”
The decision to build the OPC on 19.3 acres in Jackson Park, a historic public park on the National Register of Historic Places, sparked opposition from environmentalists and preservationists who raised concerns over the environmental impact of the project.
In January 2025, a Black-owned subcontractor filed a $40 million racial discrimination lawsuit against Thornton Tomasetti, the project’s structural engineering firm, alleging racial discrimination.
The Chicago-based subcontractor, Robert McGee, is suing Thornton Tomasetti, the firm that oversees the engineering of the OPC.
According to the lawsuit, Thornton Tomasetti created new rules for rebar spacing, which impacted Robert McGee’s productivity and cost him millions of dollars.
According to Newsweek, the OPC has also been plagued by rising costs and delays. Initially budgeted at $350–500 million, the project’s cost has ballooned to $830 million and could surge past $1 billion.
Construction was supposed to begin in 2018 but was delayed to 2021.
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