ANTICIPATION PROPOSAL FOR THE BARACK H. OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM CAMPUS
GRANT PARK
NICHOLAS FOREST, FOTINI HALVATZIS, XOPHER POLLARD
The New Grant Park South Turning Legacy into Transformation +PRESENTED BY:
Nick Forest Fotini Halvatzis Xopher Pollard
GRANT PARK AND DESIGN BOUNDARY
As Chicago's Front Yard, Grant Park has remained "forever free and clear" to the enjoyment of citizens and tourists, making it the city's most valuable waterfront property and creating a rich and contentious history. OBAMA VICTORY RALLY 2008
The Obama family takes the stage in front of thousands of hopeful supporters.
In 2008, Senator Obama chose Hutchinson Field, an open space within the south lawns of Grant Park, to deliver his historic 2008 Presidential Victory Speech in front of thousands of supporters. The event temporarily transformed the otherwise overlooked part of the park into a focal point of international attention. The siting of the Obama Presidential Library and Museum in this location will transform the park permanently. The Library and Museum is separated into two buildings, the former is incorporated into the new park and latter is embedded into the city grid to bookend and complete the Michigan Ave. Wall. (Called out in plan to right.) In doing so, the project will develop the south lawns to the level of a world class landscape and catalyze successive phases of development in Chicago's South Loop.
The New Grant Park South The Artificial Landscape, Reengineered
City Grid superimposed on the Park.
The new Grant Park South is activated by the convergence of the park, the street grid, and the lake. The grid brings order and scale to the park and acts as an organization tool for the primary pedestrian routes. The lake is incorporated into the site, utilizing water as a means of access, a harvested resource, and an attraction. Reflecting pools and bioswales line Michigan Ave. and collect water runoff before entering the street. Water is also treated through a constructed river path and is reintroduced to the lake via a canal that simultaneously allows kayakers to enter the park underneath Lake Shore Drive. Extension of the Grid into the Park.
The Grid navigating the Seismic Landscape.
The Folded, Perforated, Multi-layered Landscape.
For Obama, the social network and connectivity are instrumental in aggregating power. Bridging and networking are manifested in the design through landform movements, increased pedestrian abilities, and a literal bridge that connects the Obama Museum to the institutions of the Museum Campus. Cutting and folding the ground plane induces a seismic effect that creates a layered landscape of multiplied edges and permeable thresholds. The resulting landscape upsets the artificial divisions between architecture, landscape, and infrastructure.
The New Grant Park South Creation of the Pedestrian Friendly Michigan Blvd. By building over the Metra tracks, the park becomes complete and united. Similarly, diffusing the hardlined Michigan Ave. into the park’s Western edge creates a stronger connection between city and park. This desire for unity is fueled by the transformation of the park during Obama’s 2008 Victory Speech, during which, Michigan Ave. and Columbus Dr. were transformed into pedestrian streets, transforming dividers into spaces of unification. Echoing Burnham’s desire for a grander, wider Michigan Ave, a “Shared Space” strip the width of Garfield Blvd. runs the entire length of Grant Park, from Randolph to Roosevelt. As shown
Burnham’s Michigan Ave.
Michigan Blvd. Enchancements
A Shared Space street, with pedestrians, cars, and cafe patrons coexisting.
below, the Shared Space concept redefines street spaces to create a more democratic use of public space. Cars, pedestrians, and patrons can use the space in harmony with one another. The convergence of city and park within the former Michigan Ave. creates smaller interstitial spaces that are both park and thoroughfare. Some of these spaces act as bioswales to more sustainably handle rainwater runoff. In order to increase pedestrian access to the park, vehicular traffic is reduced by underground “thru lanes” which yield a net gain in traffic lanes. All Grant Park underground garage access points are moved off of the aboveground Michicag Blvd. in order to further reduce unnecessary traffic. The splintering of vehicular traffic allows for greater organization of traffic through the site and reduces traffic conflicts.
View of Michigan Blvd. from above Museum Tower showing park built over Metra Tracks.
Colubus Dr. on the Night of Obama’s 2008 Victory Speech as a Pedestrian Street.
The New Grant Park South Presidential Museum Tower and Obama Station Plaza
Lake Shore Drive
CHICAGO RIVER
LAKE MICHIGAN
Hutchinson
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Musem Perspective
Museum The Museum embodies the monumentality of the President and the Presidency. The shape is informed by pushes that reflect the seismic shifts in the landscape. The Museum is located on the edge of the park for prominence, its location informed by other cultural institutions located along important axes and sightlines. Located at the termination of a redesigned Michigan Avenue, the Presidential Museum tower marks the end of the historic Michigan Avenue Street Wall. The tower is connected to the Museum Campus institutions by an arched bridge which strengthens the logic of their arrangement, brings the city to the lakefront over Lake Shore Dr., and provides monumental vistas of the entire park.
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BURNHAM HARBOR
Site Model (Museum centered)
Hutchinson Field Stage
Plaza Perspective
Plaza A new plaza at the Obama Metra Station provides an unobtrusive house for the Parks Department offices currently in the park, and improves the station with added amenities creating a destination point and an enhanced arrival experience to both the park and the city center. The plaza is tied to infrastructural expansion within the city center, connected to green roof parking lot and a new pedway system that can eventually network the entire south loop. The newly refurbished plaza helps to make Grant Park a key arrival point and introduction of the city to visitors. As the commuter exits from the train into the plaza they are immediately welcomed to the city by Michigan Blvd., the Presidential library- museum, the museum campus and Grant Park; these elements culminate to represent a complete and cultural epicenter within the city of Chicago.
Site Plan (Plaza Centered)
Site Model (Plaza Centered)
Plaza Site Section
The New Grant Park South Obama Presidential Library and Archives
View of Library from the Museum Tower front lawn.
The Library commands the site within the seismic landscape, not by monumental architectural presence, but by an antimonumental gesture, actually becoming the summit of dynamic landform masses. All topographical changes converge on the library space, articulating a unique space about Columbus Dr. with the energy felt during Obama’s speech. Accordingly, this space serves as an open air theater when occupied for concerts, political events, celebrations, and public speeches. Other times, the space can be used for sunbathing, sledding, and other recreational activities. As an institution based on the freedom of information, the Obama Library finds itself well at home in a space historically left open to the people. Within the multiplied layers of the park, the archives and library can exist in harmony with the park’s mandate to remain “forever free and clear.” Library Section.
Sketch of Columbus by Library.
Further disrupting distinctions between architecture, landscape, and infrastructure, the HVAC from the Library is supported by a cooling pond which doubles as a calming attraction.
Cooling Pond in front of Library looking toward the City.
The New Grant Park South Connecting the City to a Reimagined Lakefront By remaking and extending the lakefront, it becomes a destination point. The design of the new lakefront dramatizes the convergence of the city grid and the lake into the site. Upon entering the site, these elements create a landscape of multiplied edges. The new edges represent both a continuation of the historical push of the park into the lake by infill and a retrograde movement of lake into the park. The boardwalk itself telegraphs the sidewalks, roads and alleys of the adjacent city grid into the lake.
MICHIGAN AVE
ILLINOIS CENTRAL LINES
ART
Programming at the lakefront includes kayaking/fishing piers, indoor and outdoor public baths, beachfront, and spaces for performance, research and habitation connected to the Shedd aquarium. Programming emphasizes open use year round. As shown below, the Shedd Aquarium spaces could become habitats for native endangered species to repopulate. Alternatively, spaces could be used for special performances or an extension of the indoor holdings. Including the Shedd into the programming scheme of the new lakefront ties the new recreation potential of the park to its past association to the city’s great cultural institutions.
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Historical expansion of Grant Park via Infil.
Connecting the Lakefront’s Growth to the Park’s Institutional History with the Proposed Expansion to the Shedd Aquarium.
Section of Lakefront Expansion through the Public Baths and Boardwalk.
New Lakefront Program and Features 11 12 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 17 1 8 1 9
Kayaking Waterway into Park Kayaking and Fishing Piers 2020 Olympics Swimming Pools Protected Public Beach Public Baths (Some Indoor) Public Beach and Lake Access Shedd Aquarium Spaces Breakwater Boardwalk Path Habitat for Lake Native Species
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Connecting the South Loop to the Enchanced Lakefront.
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Lakefront Boardwalk and Breakwater Programming.
The New Grant Park South South Lawns and Museum Campus
By redesigning Grant Park, the South Loop is now connected to the Lakefront by a dynamic landscape that serves as its own world class destination. By siting the Obama Presidential Library and Museum in Chicag’s Front Yard, the cultural center of Chicago becomes a cultural center of the nation, and of the free world.