Designed to achieve LEED Platinum, SITES Silver, and International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Zero Energy for all buildings and facilities on the campus.
“The Obama Presidential Center represents a historic opportunity to build a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home.” (www.obama.org) Located in the historic Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Jackson Park, the Center will be a new landmark for the South Side of Chicago and is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
The Center will be presented as a campus – a collection of three buildings, visible at grade, comprising the Museum tower to the north, the Forum in the center and the Library to the south, all gathered around a public plaza. These three volumes are connected and form one building below grade. Park space will extend over the roofs of Forum and Library buildings, allowing the buildings and landscape (designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates) to be fully integrated. The project also includes a two-story underground garage structure to the south of the Library. The facility is anticipated to be slightly less than 500,000 sf including approximately 175,000 sf of covered parking.
The project is intending to achieve LEED Platinum, SITES Silver, and International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Zero Energy certifications for all buildings and facilities. A key component of meeting these goals is the use of an all-electric Geothermal Heat Pump System with energy sourced entirely from non-fossil fuel burning off-site photovoltaic panels.
