Design For Barack Obama's Presidential Center Revealed

Image courtesy of the Obama Foundation

The design has been unveiled for Barack Obama's new presidential center.

Aside from unveiling a special Chicago-themed playlist, the Obama Foundation has released plans for Obama's lakefront presidential center, showcasing renderings of the building on Wednesday.

The renderings depict three buildings — a forum, library, and museum — which will surround a plaza that will be located on the South Side of Chicago.

"The Obamas want to create a safe, warm, inviting place that brings people in, teaches them something new, and inspires them to create change in their own communities," Obama Foundation Chair Marty Nesbitt said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The Center will be a place for doing, not just looking or listening, "

Nesbitt also added that he wants the center to have more than one building so that it will be a "living, working center for engagement — an ongoing project for the community and world to shape what it means to be an active citizen in the 21st century."

The center is slated to be complete by 2021.

As for the exhibits that will be in the center, the same design firm responsible for creating the National Museum of African American History & Culture will be in charge of those.

The design team will include several people that are native to Chicago (specifically the South Side of the city), such as artist Amanda Williams, as well as Andres Hernandez and Norman Teague. The team will be in charge of creating state-of-the-art interactive exhibits for the museum.

"We are honored to lead this incredible exhibition design team and to collaborate with the Obama Foundation to help develop a presidential center that reflects the dynamism and openness of the Obama presidency and encourages and supports civic engagement," founder Ralph Appelbaum said.

"Obviously, it is a tremendous honor to participate in a project that will resonate locally and globally," Williams added. "As someone who was raised on the South Side, it brings my childhood aspirations for what is possible for my community full circle."