The Park Embrace is a semi-public area, adjacent to the Forum complex, at the north end of the facility.  Designed for year-round use, the Embrace is surrounded on three sides by architectural features: public amenities such as restrooms and elevator-stair towers, the Forum’s primary and secondary spaces, the Barack Obama Foundation, and the private Presidential Quarters.  The greensward itself can be secured for special gatherings or ticketed, high-security events.  In this fashion, the safety of the Presidential Center can be maintained without cordoning off its entire premises; no parts of the public Washington Park or its extensions leading to Obama Square are impacted.

The landscape of the Park Embrace is designed to be a multifunctional setting.  Foremost, the space is an extension of Washington Park to the east, supporting a vast collection of native species, in keeping with the principles established for the rest of the site.  A network of small ponds and streams winds its way through the topography, terminating at the base of the Forum’s rostrum.

Second, in the great Chicago tradition of hosting outdoor events, this space serves as a gathering place for direct community engagement.  As a cavea, its sheltering wings comprise the walls of an intimate outdoor amphitheater.