Obama Presidential Library
Tod Williams Billie Tsien · Jackson Park · Chicago · 2026
South facade of the Obama Presidential Museum.
Construction is ongoing at the Obama Presidential Library in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago. Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects + Partners, the 19-acre campus will include a museum; a branch of the Chicago public library; an auditorium; a fruit and vegetable garden; and a facility for athletics, programs, and events.
Southwest corner of the Obama Presidential Museum (left) and the forum building (right).
The form of the Obama Presidential Museum was inspired by the idea of four hands coming together, embodying the notion that many hands shape a place. Tapestry granite, mined in New Hampshire, will clad the structure and has started to be installed on the lower levels.
Close-up of the museum's Tapestry granite panel facade.
Close-up of the museum's Tapestry granite panel facade.
West facade of the Obama Presidential Museum.
Northwest corner of the Obama Presidential Museum.
North facade of the Obama Presidential Museum.
North facade of the Obama Presidential Museum.
Architect: Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects + Partners (Museum, Forum, and Library), Moody Nolan (Athletics and Events Center); Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti; MEP Engineer: Altieri Sebor Wieber; Facade Consultant: Heintges; Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Program: Museum, Library, Auditorium, Winter Garden, Athletics and Events Center; Location: Jackson Park, Chicago, IL; Completion: First Half of 2026.
Tour: 455 5th Avenue - Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
Northwest corner from Fifth Avenue.
The New York Public Library’s renovation of the former Mid-Manhattan Library at the corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue has wrapped up and officially opened to the public. Now renamed to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, the renovation of the 1970’s branch library was led by Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle. Before the six-story building was repurposed as a library, it originally opened as a department store for Arnold Constable Co. in 1915.
The renovation created capacity for 400,000 books and other circulating materials, along with updates spaces for the children’s library, teens library, business library, adult learning center, 17,000 square feet of general reading and study space, 11,000 square feet of multipurpose space, and a rooftop terrace.
The Long Room is structured as a 31 foot wide and 85 foot high linear atrium between three floors of flexible reading areas and five floors of book stacks. An abstract artwork by Hayal Pozanti occupies the atrium ceiling.
The three floors of reading areas feature bespoke reading tables at a length of up to 66 feet and supported by the building’s original steel frame. Chairs at the reading tables are an exclusive design collaboration with Thos. Moser for NYPL branch libraries.
A Children’s Library and Teen Center are located on the lower level and connect to the ground floor with a staircase and large light wells.
Architects: Mecanoo with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects; Client: New York Public Library; Program: Library Renovation; Location: Midtown, New York, NY; Completion: 2021
Tour: Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center
South facade from Norman Avenue.
It’s opening day for the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center, a 15,000 square foot community hub that doubles the size of a previous library building in the neighborhood. Designed by Marble Fairbanks, the structure includes adult, young adult, and children reading rooms and collection spaces, and community spaces dedicated to library programming. Along with the library program, the two-story structure also includes lab spaces for interactive projects, a community event space, a lounge, small meeting rooms, and staff spaces for the environmental education center.
South facade from Norman Avenue.
South facade from Norman Avenue.
Library entrance from Norman Avenue.
The two-story structure is designed as one volume rotated and stacked atop the other and clad in two separate materials. Custom cast concrete panels formed by sandblasted wood formwork clad the ground floor volume, while sandblasted wood panels wrap the second floor.
South facade detail.
Cast concrete panels.
Southwest corner from Norman Avenue.
Southwest corner.
West facade.
Entry desk at the ground floor.
First floor bench with solar windows that will register the time of year with future floor markings.
Children’s area with custom designed rug featuring an insect motif. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer views to the bioswale outside.
Elevator with custom graphics noting the floor number.
Young adult fiction room with the capacity to be closed off for events or activities.
Display cases will feature items related to the environmental education center.
Second floor meeting space with movable partitions for flexible use.
Second floor reading garden with fruit bearing plants to attract birds.
Close-up of the sandblasted cedar wood panels cladding the second floor volume.
Looking down on the Scape-designed entry open space with bioswale to slow down rainwater runoff and reduce flooding.
Third floor roof deck for special events.
Solar panels installed at the roof deck help power the library with their bifacial design to collect energy from both sides of the panel.
Third floor pollinator garden with plant species designed to bloom throughout the year and attract a wide variety of pollinators.
Looking down on the entry open space and the second floor reading garden,
Architect: Marble Fairbanks; Landscape Architect: SCAPE / Landscape Architecture; Structure: Robert Silman Associates; MEP/FP Engineers & LEED: ads Engineers, PC; Client: Brooklyn Public Library; Program: Library; Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY; Completion: Fall 2020.
Construction Update: Kew Gardens Hills Library
Northwest corner.
Construction is wrapping up at WORKac's Kew Gardens Hills Library in Queens, a replacement of an older library in the neighborhood. The one-story structure is clad in GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) panels cast in a curtain-like form of vertical folds. This solid surface pulls up at the northwest and southwest corners to allow for a glass façade that provides light and views for the open rooms for adults, teens, children and staff that line the perimeter. The customary book shelves occupy the center and east perimeter of the interior.
North façade.
Northwest corner.
Close-up of the GFRC façade panels.
Library entrance.
Library entrance.
West façade.
Looking up at the GFRC panels on the west façade.
West façade.
Close-up of the façade and green roof.
Southwest corner.
Architect: WORKac; Client: NYC DDC; Program: Library; Location: Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, NY; Completion: Fall 2017.
