In providing a controlled amount of neighborhood retail, the Obama Presidential Center can foster economic growth of the community without dominating the cultural and financial state of the neighborhood.  The overarching plan encourages this growth along Garfield Boulevard to the west, and Calumet Avenue to the north and south, by providing a stable, inviting steetscape that naturally blends into the other structures already present along Garfield Boulevard.  The heights of structures vary, but in all cases are in keeping with the scale and cadence of the surrounding neighborhood.  Entries to the Wintergarden are set back from the streetscape utilizing public plazas that have the familiar scale and proportion of the numerous pioneering courtyard-style apartment buildings present in Washington Park.

Fenestration and form vary in relation to the inner function of each space, but the overall proportions and materiality remain constant, an expression of “diversity in unity.”  Materials are also constant, with Indiana Limestone being a familiar material commonly used in Chicago for structures of a noble intent.  Shown above, the Presidential Reading Room hovers twenty-four feet above a restaurant and main entrance to the Wintergarden, at night a glowing feature that combines aspects of permanence and tradition with an audacious expression of progress.