Image: @Obamafoundation/X
The shrine to Barack Obama, aka the Obama library at the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), is still under construction in Chicago.
Photos of the building made the rounds on social media recently, and the building is receiving harsh criticism, with some suggesting the barren, characterless building looks more like a prison than a library.
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.”
Presidential Center construction #Chicago pic.twitter.com/TQxUGzn4uG
— 606_Vision (@Jay3130Jay) April 16, 2025
Looks like a small prison
— Greg Conforti (@con40g) April 17, 2025
Literally looks like a prison. Like the Meteopolitan Correctional Center on VanBuren in the south Loop. pic.twitter.com/8yfhMpVcmq
— Aaron (@ltdmstr) April 16, 2025
Hideous brutalist post modern mausoleum devoid of any hope, color or inspiration. The bureaucrats who co-signed on this Neo-liberal Death Star must have been rewarded handsomely for selling out the South Side.
— Chi_LastRespondr (@ChiLastRespondr) April 17, 2025
OPC has faced multiple controversies since its announcement.
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.
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